A man who molested a woman during her morning commute and then stabbed her after she confronted him was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Wednesday.

The Tongzhou District People’s Court in Beijing found the defendant, surnamed Liu, guilty of attempted intentional homicide, as argued by the prosecution, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

On the morning of July 17, Liu groped a woman surnamed Gong aboard a bus in Tongzhou District. After she slapped him, he stabbed her with a fruit knife, severing a vein in her neck and puncturing her lung. Gong went into shock from the blood loss but survived the incident.

Liu was subdued by the bus driver and another passenger, who received awards for their bravery in August.

The majority of nearly 1,900 respondents — male and female — in a 2015 online survey said they had experienced sexual harassment on the bus or subway, most commonly unwanted physical contact. In June, the southern cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, both in Guangdong province, started operating contentious female-only and female-priority subway cars. A feminist activist had started a nationwide campaign against sexual harassment on public transport a month earlier, after authorities blocked attempts from advocates to put up anti-harassment billboards.

Editor: Qian Jinghua.

(Header image: Ha Nan/VCG)