Chunian child rapist-murderer awarded three death sentences

LAHORE: An Anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore awarded the death penalty on three counts to suspect Sohail Shehzad for sexually assaulting and murdering a minor boy in Chunian, district Kasur.

ATC judge Muhammad Iqbal handed life imprisonment and death sentence to convict Sohail Shehzad on three counts and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs3 million in addition to Rs200,000 compensation to the legal heirs of the victim. In case of failure to pay compensation and fine, the 27-year-old rickshaw driver will have to serve an additional six months in prison. 

The case relates to the murder of only one of the four children, whose remains were recovered back in September. The cases of the remaining minors were still pending. Four children between eight to twelve years of age had gone missing in Chunian since June. A wave of shock and terror gripped Chunian when the police recovered the bodies.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar  had announced on October 1. He said DNA samples from 1,649 people were profiled and once the culprit was caught, saying his DNA matched a “100 percent” with the samples collected from the crime scene.

Shahzad and confessed during initial questioning to sexually abusing and killing all four children — 12-year-old Imran, eight-year-old Ali Hasnain and Faizan, and seven-year-old Salman.

Only Faizan’s complete body had been recovered, whereas the bones of the two others were found in sand dunes in the Chunian Industrial Area. The death sentence awarded to Shahzad over the rape and murder of Faizan.