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The Chinese man who led a round of vicious attacks on several women in a restaurant in Tangshan, China's Hebei province, was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Sep. 23.

The incident, which took place on Jun. 10, shocked the country and sparked widespread outrage over violence against women.

Woman rejected sexual advance

Chen Jizhi and four other defendants were found guilty of violently assaulting four women after one of the women rejected a sexual advance made by Chen, reported CNN.

Another defendant was found guilty of threatening one of the victims to deter her from calling the police.

In the surveillance footage which surfaced online, the men were seen repeatedly kicking and punching the woman and her three friends.

They dragged the woman out of the restaurant by her hair, and used chairs and bottles to attack the female patrons.

Chen was later found to be the ringleader of a criminal gang which had committed numerous crimes in the past 10 years, such as opening gambling dens and robbery, reported Bloomberg.

He was found guilty of disorderly behaviour, intentional injury, robbery and gathering a mob to fight.

On top of his 24-year prison sentence, he was fined 320,000 yuan (S$64,000).

An additional 27 defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to 11 years for their involvement in the crimes.

Authorities charged 28 people over the attack

The court said the two of the women sustained "second-degree minor injuries” while the other two had “slight injuries”.

China authorities previously said they charged 28 people over the attack, reported CNN.

Another eight police officials were under investigation and detained for providing “protection” for the criminal gang.

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Top images via Weibo.