A 19-year-old who sought to have himself sent to a detention house in a desperate bid to overcome his gaming addiction has been jailed for two years with a two-year reprieve for robbery.

Putuo District prosecutors said the defendant, identified as Xiaogang, had followed and attempted to rob a young woman surnamed Wang outside her home in the wee hours last November 23. He fled after being told Wang’s relatives were nearby.

On February 12, he followed another woman surnamed Wu and tried to drag her away as she was about to enter her home. She called for help and Xiaogang was subdued at the scene.

He told the court he was a high school student but he had quit schooling because he was addicted to computer games.

He said he came up the idea to have himself detained because he had seen an online post stating detention houses were quite comfortable. And he thought they would enable him to buckle down to study in a place where there would be no access to the Internet.

He expressed regret at causing suffering to the two women.