Mum slain after video game clash with son

Mum slain after video game clash with son

A 14-year-old boy stabbed his mother to death and severely injured his sister after he was scolded for spending too much time playing video games, Bangkok police said.

The boy was arrested early yesterday morning. The incident took place at a house on Krungthep Kreeta Road in Saphan Sung district of Bangkok, said Pol Maj Prayuth Phungkeha, an investigator from Prawet police station.

At the house he found a woman in her pyjamas lying dead with her face down in a pool of blood.

He also found that another woman had locked herself inside a bedroom.

Pol Maj Prayuth said initial investigations found the 50-year-old woman was stabbed to death by her son while the 29-year-old woman locked in the bedroom was the boy's elder sister.

The sister was seriously wounded and was taken to nearby Lat Phrao Hospital.

Pol Maj Prayuth said the boy took up the knife and repeatedly stabbed his mother and sister after he was reproached for being addicted to video games and not helping with household chores.

He said the boy stabbed his mother four times in the back shortly after being scolded and then stabbed his elder sister, who was trying to stop him.

The boy was taken to Prawet police station for questioning and will soon be handed into the custody of a youth detention centre.

He could face a murder charge, according to the Criminal Code.

The boy's father, who was also present at the crime scene, said he and his wife did not live together.

The boy's father said his son suffered from a mental disorder and depression.

Dr Panpimol Wipulakorn, director of the Rajanukul Institute, said excessive video-game playing can have a negative effect on a young child, but is not likely to be a key factor in stimulating domestic violence or causing a young boy to kill his mother.

Dr Apichai Mongkol, deputy permanent secretary for public health, said video game addiction is like drug addiction, with gamers displaying lower-than-normal levels of dopamine in their brains, similar to drug users.

Dopamine, a neurotransmitter, helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centres.

The level of dopamine in the brain of a gamer falls over time, requiring more stimulus to produce the same amount of pleasure, just as it does in drug users.

Amornwich Nakhonthap, a technical adviser to the Quality Learning Foundation (QLF), called on authorities to check the boy's family background.

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