The Lahore sessions court has sentenced Ali Zain to 100 years in prison for brutally murdering his mother, brother, and two sisters in 2022 under the influence of the online game PUBG.
The ruling, delivered by Additional District and Sessions Judge Riaz Ahmed, also includes a fine of Rs4 million.
Heinous crime in Kahna
According to the prosecution, the tragic incident took place in Kahna, Lahore, where Ali Zain, now around 17 years old, opened fire on his family members at 2am after becoming influenced by the violent gaming experience. His mother, brother, and two sisters were all killed in the attack.
The case was registered by the Kahna police station in 2022, and prosecutor Habibur Rehman presented eyewitnesses and evidence during the trial.
Court verdict and sentencing
Judge Riaz Ahmed, while announcing the verdict, ruled that Ali Zain would serve four life sentences, amounting to 100 years of imprisonment, due to the severity of the crime.
The court clarified that the punishment was reduced from the death penalty to life imprisonment because of the convict’s age. In addition to the jail term, he was ordered to pay a fine of Rs4 million.
The incident
In January 2022, the Lahore police claim to have solved the murder case of four family members, including a lady health worker (LHW) who was shot dead with her three children at her home in Kahna.
The authorities had detained Zain, 14, the deceased LHW's son, on charges that he used to play the popular online game PubG and allegedly killed his mother and three siblings after being influenced by the game.
Naheed Mubarak, 45; her son, Taimur Sultan, 20; and daughters, Mahnoor Fatima, 15, and Jannat, 10, were discovered dead in a room of their multi-story home at LDA Chowk in the Kahna area.
Ali had confessed to his crime. The convict was an avid PubG player who spent most of his time in his room playing the online game. A police officer claimed the teenage boy became aggressive after failing to meet the game's objectives.
On the day of the incident, the officer stated that the boy "lost his senses" after missing a target after hours of playing the game, grabbed his mother's pistol, and went to her room, where she was sleeping with her other children.
Ali allegedly shot and killed his mother before firing at two of his siblings. When his elder brother entered the room after hearing gunshots, Ali opened fire on him as well, killing everyone on the spot, according to the officer. He then went to his room on the upper floor, rested, and then left the house.
Zain threw the pistol into a nearby drain and went back to his room, pretending to be asleep when the incident occurred. Police investigators had doubts about the boy's role since the incident occurred due to his confused body language, but they decided to observe him for a few days, according to the officer.
During that time, police completed an investigation to look into all possible options, but found nothing. According to the officer, police had detained Zain on suspicion of familicide.
