Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Dutch beach volleyball player and convicted rapist Steven Van de Velde has been refused a visa. Australia to compete in world Championships,
The 31-year-old was selected to participate in beach volleyball world Championships Adelaide, South Australia Next month.
In 2016 he was sentenced to four years in prison in Britain after being found guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl in Milton Keynes. He met the girl on Facebook and raped her at her home before traveling to Amsterdam to meet her in 2014. He was 19 years old at the time of the crime.
Van de Velde returned to the Netherlands but was extradited to Britain in 2016 after he pleaded guilty to three counts of child rape. He served 13 months of his four-year sentence before returning to professional play, making the national team and competing in Paris olympics Last year. His participation in the Olympics was widely criticized and a section of the crowd booed and jeered him.
There was widespread opposition to his participation in next month’s World Championships, with South Australia’s Attorney-General Kyam Maher writing to the federal government demanding his visa be rejected. “We do not believe that foreign child sex offenders should be admitted to this country,” they wrote.
An online petition demanding Van de Velde be denied a visa garnered over 4,000 signatures.
The Dutch Volleyball Association (Nevobo) said both Van de Velde and her doubles partner Alexander Brouwer will not participate in the world championships, which start on November 14.
“Unfortunately, we have now been informed that a decision has been taken to deny visas. We regret this, but we have no choice but to accept the decision,” technical director Hélène Crillard said in a statement.
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs, which oversees visa issuance, had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday.
Van de Velde, a two-time bronze medalist at the European Championships, said in a Nevobo statement: “We took into account that the combination of the policy of the Australian authorities and my past could create problems in obtaining a visa.”
Brouwer posted on social media that his season is now over.
“Got the news this morning – no visa, no Australia,” he wrote. “Would love to compete with Steven at my 7th World Championships, but it is what it is.”
Reuters reporting included