Perhaps taking one too many scenes from Grand Theft Auto seriously, a 19-year old sex offender has been jailed indefinitely.
Ryan Chinnery of Kent, England seemed to enjoy two things: videogames and sex. These two interests may have unfortunately collided when Chinnery started a string of violent sexual assaults against at least four ladies he found on streets and forced into sexual acts. Chinnery defended himself by saying he was home playing Grand Theft Auto at the time of the accused attacks.
Judge Philip Statman believed there was a “worrying mirror of conduct” between Chinnery’s actions and those in Grand Theft Auto, a game with “scant respect for women.”
Chinnery denies that his ownership and enjoyment of Grand Theft Auto affected him, yet Judge Statman concluded, “While it appears the defendant does not accept it influenced his conduct on that particular evening, it could not have helped him, I would have thought, in all the circumstances of the case.”
While Judge Statman didn’t want the case to “enter the controversy as to whether such conduct is encouraged by pornographic material and video games such as Grand Theft Auto,” he found “a worrying mirror of conduct between that which pornography presented to you and that which you have carried out.”
The final sentence against Chinnery included a minimum of four years imprisonment with parole at the discretion of the parole board.
The presentation of playing games as an enabler for violence continues to be of scientific interest. While similarities between Chinnery’s stalking of women on streets from his car and the actions players may take in GTA to find hookers exist, he could’ve found inspiration for his actions from any number of sources. Despite the media he enjoyed, the link between it and his actions remains similar, not causal of his behavior.
Source: Daily Mail, Kentish Express via GamePolitics
