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A court in Spain has sentenced a Pakistani man to 36 years in prison for the murders of three elderly siblings, linked to debts from an online romance scam. In October, a jury found Dilawar Hussain guilty of killing two sisters and their disabled brother in Morata de Tajuña, near Madrid, in December 2023.
In November, a Madrid court handed down a sentence of 12 years each for the three murders, citing “psychological alteration” as a mitigating factor, according to a copy of the ruling obtained by AFP on Friday. Hussain has filed an appeal.
The 44-year-old turned himself in to authorities and confessed to the killings after the partially burned bodies of the siblings were discovered at their home. The victims, all in their 70s, had been beaten to death, possibly with an iron bar.
During his trial, Hussain asked for forgiveness, explaining that he had “heard voices” and was “not in my right mind” at the time. Neighbors reported that the murders were connected to a fake online love affair, where the two sisters believed they were in long-distance relationships with two U.S. service members.
They believed one of the servicemen had died, and that the other needed money to cover costs so he could send them a share of a multi-million-euro inheritance. As a result, the sisters accumulated significant debts. Hussain, who rented a room in the siblings’ house, lent them approximately $70,000, which was never repaid, according to the court ruling.
The same year, Hussain attacked one of the sisters with a hammer in February 2023—several months before the fatal attack—and received a two-year sentence, which was suspended due to it being his first offense under Spanish law.
Hussain also faces a separate trial for allegedly murdering his 39-year-old Bulgarian cellmate in February 2024 while detained in Madrid awaiting trial for the siblings’ murders.
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