KEY POINTS:
A 20-year-old man accused of a carjacking says he was driven to commit the crime after playing a violent video game for hours on end.
In what is believed to be a legal first in New Zealand, Sheik Tanweerul Haque Sahib is blaming the R18 video game Grand Theft Auto - an escapist shoot-'em-up where gamers are encouraged to steal cars by force - for an alleged incident in which he stole a convertible at knifepoint and then crashed after a motorway joyride.
The defence has failed overseas but research suggests that violent video games are linked to increased aggression and that playing for extended periods of time could cause a "dissociative state", in which individuals cannot recall their actions.
Charged with aggravated robbery, assault and threatening to kill, Sahib is alleged to have threatened the driver of a Saab convertible with a knife in a carjacking incident in central Auckland last October.
The driver quickly gave up his car to Sahib, who took it for a joyride and eventually crashed on the North-western Motorway. "A short time later, he attempted to do a similar thing with a woman who was backing out of an address, and was scared off by her son," Detective Sergeant Terry Reardon told TVNZ at the time.
Sahib's lawyer, Graeme Newell, said Grand Theft Auto would be a plank in the defence case when his client stood trial next month. An expert witness had been called to testify.
"It's difficult for me to comment at the moment. The explanation that he gave at the time was that he had played an unusually lengthy period of [a] computer game called Grand Theft Auto and was possibly exhausted."
Crown prosecutor Scott McColgan declined to comment before the trial but the "blame game" defence has raised eyebrows worldwide.
Other barristers said there was an argument for "dissociative state", akin to sleepwalking, when the defendants did not know what they were doing.
Simply blaming a video game for causing criminal activity was no legal defence at all, Auckland University law Professor Scott Optican said, although it could explain a defendant's actions.
"As long as you do the crime, do the act, with the intent to commit, what causes you to do it, propels you to do it, or motivates you do to do it is not relevant."
Extremely violent and wildly popular, Grand Theft Auto is said by critics to desensitise children to violence and glamourise sexual violence against women. Gamers are encouraged to steal cars at gunpoint, and shoot innocent civilians, police officers and fellow criminals alike. Australia has banned Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas because of a hidden sex scene which can be unlocked.
Teenagers who played Grand Theft Auto had made comments such as "crimes are easy", "made me think of violence and how to do it to people for no specific reason", "it was tempting to steal/hijack a car", "how easy it was to kill" and "killing was fun", according to a survey released last December.
The report, which surveyed 460 students between 15 and 17 years old, revealed that 64 per cent of young people were influenced after playing video games or watching movies.
While R18 video games could affect the attitude of children, chief censor Bill Hastings said there was no credible research to say that aggressive games caused gamers to commit crimes.
"Most people would find it far-fetched to believe that 'the game made me do it'."
However, Dr Claire Fletcher-Flinn, a psychologist from Auckland University, said that studies had shown a link between teenagers playing violent video games and increased aggression.
Rockstar Games, developer of Grand Theft Auto and other controversial games like Manhunt 2 - banned in New Zealand - did not return the Herald on Sunday's phone calls.
Earlier this year, an undercover Target investigation found New Zealand retail giants were willing to sell R18 games to children - an offence punishable by a $25,000 fine or three months in prison.
Grand Theft Auto has also been linked with two 14-year-old boys escaping from CYF care and shooting at Tauranga police officers in a car chase last month.
No Excuse
Blaming Grand Theft Auto proved unsuccessful in the United States when a 20-year-old man was sentenced to death this year for the 2003 killings of three policemen.
Devin Moore, then 16, was questioned by police on suspicion of stealing a car but grabbed an officer's pistol and fatally shot three police in a cold-blooded killing spree.
His lawyers mounted a defence case based on his childhood full of mental and physical abuse, as well as an affinity for violent games.
One game in particular, Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto III, was singled out, because gamers can steal cars and kill cops.
Moore had said he was inspired by the PlayStation2 game. The victims' families have sued Take-Two Interactive (parent company of Rockstar), Sony, Wal-Mart, and GameStop for their parts in the manufacturing and selling of the game, saying they are complicit in murder.
