A Lahore court in Pakistan on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old teenager to 100 years in prison for killing his mother, elder brother, and two younger sisters, in a case investigators linked to his obsession with the online game PUBG. The judgment marked the conclusion of one of the city’s most shocking family murder cases.
Lahore Court Delivers Sentence, Announces 4 Life Terms
Additional Sessions Judge Riaz Ahmed delivered the sentence, imposing four life terms – 25 years for each murder – on Zain Ali. The court opted against the death penalty due to Ali’s age at the time of the killings.
“The convict brutally killed his entire family under the influence of an online game,” the judge said. “Because of his age, he is being given four life sentences instead of the capital punishment.”
Ali was 14 when he committed the murders. He lived with his family in Lahore’s congested Kahna neighbourhood.
Zain Ali Had Gaming Obsession and Family Tensions
Described by local reports as a “diehard PUBG player,” Ali reportedly spent most of his time locked in his room playing the online game, drawing repeated scoldings from his mother, Nahid Mubarak. PUBG is a multiplayer battle royale game where 100 players compete to be the last one standing.
Police told the court that Ali’s aggression intensified when he failed to complete game targets.
“The day of the killings, Ali lost his senses after he missed a target while playing the game for hours and also got a snub from his mother,” investigators said.
Details of The Fatal Attack
According to police reports, Ali grabbed his mother’s licensed pistol and entered the room where she was sleeping with his younger sisters. He opened fire, killing his mother, 45, elder brother Taimur, 20, and sisters Mahnoor, 15, and Jannat, 10, instantly.
In his ruling, Judge Ahmed noted that the crime was “influenced by addiction, where a game became more powerful than family bonds.”
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Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
