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Spiegel Online, December 7th 2006 Homicide after playing a violent game „I just wanted to see what I am made of“ by Jens Todt, Cottbus A 19 years old man has confessed that he killed a homeless man with kicks and blows to his face. His motive was frustration he stated at court. Right before this act of brutality he had been stopped by the local police and had been playing a violent computer game – losing every match. Cottbus – “I was a different person”, says Steffen G. at the beginning of his trial at the court in Cottbus,”I remembered the scenes of the game, the kicks and the blows, I just wanted to imitate that.” The unemployed 19 year old is accused of committing homicide out of malice. He wanted to simulate scenes from the wrestling game „SmackDown vs. Raw 2006” - with Jürgen G. as his victim. In this computer game virtual wrestlers fight each other, e.g. by jumping on their enemies´ bodies. On July 10th Steffen G. had been playing the game with his friend Timothy H. from late noon until night. “Steffen lost every match”, says Timothy H., “he even begged me to let him win at least once.” While he was playing Steffen G. drank a bottle of beer, followed by two bottles of wine and one bottle of chocolate liqueur. Right after midnight, on his way home, he encountered Jürgen G. . The man had been homeless for a few weeks. An acquaintance had thrown him out of his apartment. In that night G. was spending his time in the area situated between Timothy’s and Steffen’s homes. “I spoke to him and offered him a place to sleep in Timothy’s apartment”, says Steffen G., “but he refused.” All three of them moved on towards Steffen’s apartment. Timothy was walking a few steps ahead of the others. “Then I heard a thud”, states Timothy. “I will never forget this face” Steffen G. explains that he kicked him down a stairway close to a tram station, “He rolled over a couple of time.” The stairs at the crime scene are 15 metres long. “Then I just started kicking him”, says the accused. Ten of twelve times, with full impact. The judge Sigrun von Hasseln wants to know if the victim had not said anything or screamed. “He babbled something”, Steffen G. explains. Timothy is said to have been standing two metres away from the scene of the attack. However, he does not agree to that statement. “I tried to stop him, but then I was hit in the shoulder myself”, the unemployed man pointed out. Jürgen G. was hurt severely that night. His face was literally destroyed. The autopsy showed „a profound demolition of the face together with severance of the left zygomatic bone and severance of the maxilla from the cranial bone as well as submeningial haemorrhage “. „I will never forget this face“, says the 80 year old Gisela Schulze who discovered the victim in the early hours of the morning. It seems that Steffen G. put all his frustration into his brutal attack on the defenceless victim. Earlier that night he and Timothy had been stopped by the police. Steffen had damaged a ticket machine with several kicks. His blood alcohol level was 1.73. „I wanted to know how severely I could hurt somebody“
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“The wish to beat him up came when he was lying on the floor”, Stefan G. states. The judge wants to know what he felt like during the action. “I just felt strong”, Steffen G. answers. “I only wanted to find out how severely I could hurt somebody - what I am made of”, Steffen G. had told the police before. Now in courtroom number 209 Steffen G. does not seem frightening at all – with his barely 1.80m body size, the woollen pullover and the shiny silver piercing in his left ear. He looks a little older than 19, his face is too angular for his age, he has a piercing in his right eyebrow. With his head hanging in shame he tells the judge about his alcohol addiction and the conflicts between him and his mother and step-father. Last year he went to hospital for a withdrawal treatment, but it did not take him much time to start drinking again. “I did not believe myself to be addicted”, Stefan G. points out. At home he got in trouble each time he came home drunk. Once he attacked his step-father. The other night he destroyed a cupboard in his room. “When I drink, I get aggressive.” Beckstein´s approach to ban violent games After an incident in Emsdetten, two weeks ago, where an ex-student ran amok, seriously injuring dozens of students and teachers before shooting himself in the end, the debate about a ban on computer games glorifying violence has been renewed. The Interior Minister of Bavaria, Günter Beckstein, (of the party CSU) had demanded a ban of so-called “killer games” the week before. He was supported by Uwe Schünemann of Lower Saxony and Jörg Schönbohm of Brandenburg. The controversial computer games raise the potential for aggression in people playing them and support aggressive behaviour, Schönbohm states. The SPD-expert, Dieter Wiefelspütz, says that one should not generally condemn Beckstein´s suggestions. However, “a discussion of banning games in the end just proves a kind of helplessness in that matter”. A ban may not be the right way to deal with this problem. Experts will explain influence of killer games The opposition criticised the approach. “Beckstein´s plans don’t deal with the real causes of horrible crimes like the incident in Emsdetten”, Grietje Bettin, media expert of the Green Party says. She thinks it would be wrong to think that “banning games would prevent amok runs like these. “This could end up in improper censorship very quickly”, Hans-Joachim Otto of the FDP points out. Beckstein´s suggestions would be “undifferentiated and naïve attack on the industry”. “SmackDown vs. Raw” does not fit into the category of “killer games” – it is a simulation of the show sports wrestling, where well-trained stuntmen and women pretend to beat each other up. Especially in the USA the operatically staged wrestling shows are pure family entertainment. On Monday Manfred Spitzer, a neuroscientist of the university clinic in Ulm, will present a medical report on Steffen G. . It will try to answer the question of whether playing computer games like these may have had influence on the criminal responsibility of the accused. Spitzer
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is already known as a vehement critic of computer- and videogames. “It was definitely the game”, Steffen G. says, “and the alcohol.” However, deep frustration can come to the surface without the influence of computer games, too. Judge von Hasseln wanted to know about the drawings and graffiti the accused had prepared during his time in the holding cell before the trial. The pictures show swastikas and phrases such as “Heil Hitler” or “White Power Hooligan”. These phrases would not represent his attitude, Steffen G. explains. “I was just bored.”