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The
parents of a schoolboy murdered by a teenage acquaintance yesterday blamed
the crime on the killer's obsession with a violent computer game.
Stefan
Pakeerah, 14, was battered and stabbed in a sustained attack, Leicester
Crown Court was told.
His killer, Warren LeBlanc, 17, pleaded guilty to murder and was remanded
in custody, pending reports. After the hearing, Stefan's father, Patrick,
said the boys used to play "Manhunt", a game on PlayStation
2, in which players earned points for killing people.
"Stefan's
murder compares to how the game is set out, using weapons like hammers
and knives," said Mr Pakeerah.
"The object of Manhunt is not just to go out and kill people. It's
a point-scoring game where you increase your score depending on how violent
the killing is. That explains why Stefan's murder was as horrific as it
was. If these games influence kids to go out and kill, then we do not
want them in the shops."
Stefan's mother, Giselle, 36, a senior research nurse, said: "I think
I heard some of Warren's friends say that he was obsessed with this game.
"To
quote from the website that promotes it, it calls it a psychological experience
- not a game - and it encourages brutal killing. If he was obsessed with
it, it could well be that the boundaries for him became quite hazy.
"This game was seized by the police as evidence. A report was done
on the game and it was quite horrific. The aim of the game is to kill
and to do it brutally. It should not be available to young people."
Mrs Pakeerah, who had to leave the court when the evidence in the case
became too harrowing, said she believed that her son's killer was evil.
She
said: "I have had friendly conversations with him and that is what
makes it so difficult - that degree of deception and evil. It just goes
to show that he is inherently evil and he is the worst type of evil."
Supt Bob Small, who led the inquiry, said: "LeBlanc's motive was
robbery, but since he attacked Stefan, he cannot explain why he carried
on attacking him and why he eventually killed him."
Earlier, Peter Joyce, QC, prosecuting, told the court how LeBlanc had
persuaded Stefan to go to a park, ostensibly to meet some girls, early
on Feb 25. Later, the youth was found by police with blood stains on his
clothes and on the hammer he was carrying. Stefan's body showed that he
had suffered horrific injuries.
Judge
Michael Stokes, QC, told the teenager, from Braunstone Frith, Leicester,
that he faced life in prison. He added: "This is a case of quite
brutal and cold-blooded murder, and that will be reflected in the tariff
I set."
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