Convicted child rapist and volleyball player Steven van de Velde is BANNED from Australia ahead of competition
Convicted child rapist and volleyball player Steven van de Velde has been banned from coming to Australia to compete next month.
Van de Velde was barred from competing against Australia at the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide on ‘character grounds’.
The volleyballer was convicted of child rape ten years ago when he was 19 after he raped a 12-year-old girl after contacting her on social media and travelling to Britain to meet her.
The schoolgirl told her family she was staying with a friend and snuck out to try and book a hotel with the volleyballer, who was aged 19 at the time.
Prosecutor Sandra Beck said at the time: ‘She describes that she had met Steven Van de Velde on Facebook, they spoke regularly through that and he made her ‘feel special’.
‘She certainly made it clear she was seven years younger than him,’ she said.
‘This relationship over social media was taking place over a period of time.’
‘You had the possibility of a stellar future representing the Netherlands,’ the judge said during sentencing in 2016. ‘She was a child aged 12. You were fully aware of that fact.’
Volleyball player Steven van de Velde has been banned from coming to Australia to compete
Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 but served just 13 months after admitting to three counts of rape against the 12-year-old.
After serving part of his sentence in Britain, Van de Velde was transferred to the Netherlands and his sentence was adjusted to the norms of Dutch law, resulting in his release from jail in 2017.
He made a comeback to volleyball and competed in the 2024 Olympics, which sparked international controversy.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas voiced his outrage at the prospect of a convicted child rapist being allowed to compete in Adelaide.
‘We do not believe that any sex offender who has been convicted of a serious crime should be allowed into our country,’ Malinauskas said.
The SA attorney-general Kyam Maher wrote to the federal government, urging it to ensure the Dutch player was not allowed to enter the country.
In a letter to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Maher wrote, ‘It is my view, and that of the South Australian government, that Mr Van de Velde should not be granted a visa.’
‘This individual’s offending is utterly abhorrent, and we do not believe that foreign child sex offenders should be granted entry to this country,’ he said.
Steven van de Velde addresses media representatives during a press conference at the European Beach Volleyball Championships in The Hague in 2024
Van de Velde competed at the 2024 Olympics but won’t be allowed into Australia to play
The international governing body responsible for volleyball, confirmed van de Velde was cleared to compete at the Adelaide tournament.
‘Individual players are selected by the respective country in line with the policies defined by the National Federation and National Olympic Committee,’ a spokesperson said.
A Volleyball Australia (VA) spokesperson said the governing body was not involved in deciding the eligibility of competitors for the World Championships, which is the responsibility of the International Volleyball Federation.
Van de Velde has called the incident ‘the biggest mistake of my life’.
The Netherlands’ Olympic committee, which selected Van de Velde, said in a statement that he had served his sentence, completed a rehabilitation programme and experts said there was no risk of him reoffending.
A Change.org petition seeking to have the 31-year-old banned from competing in Australia attracted more than 2,400 signatures.
‘Sporting, or any, talent does not override disgusting behaviour. A predator does not deserve opportunities or platforms as a reward,’ one comment on the petition reads.
