A Dutch Olympic volleyball player convicted of raping a British girl a decade ago has been denied a visa to compete in Australia.
Steven van de Velde, 31, was due to play at the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide, South Australia, next month.
In 2016, the then 21-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of raping a 12-year-old girl in Milton Keynes and was sentenced to four years in jail. He had met the girl on Facebook and travelled to England from Amsterdam before raping her in her home in 2014.
Two weeks ago, South Australia's Attorney-General Kyam Maher wrote to the federal government, calling on authorities to reject his visa as his crimes were utterly abhorrent.
The letter also stated, we do not believe that foreign child sex offenders should be granted entry to this country.
Australia's Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke emphasized that the government will continue to use every tool we have available to ensure that Australians can be safe and feel safe in their communities.
After the rape in 2014, Van de Velde returned to the Netherlands but was extradited to the UK in 2016 and arrested. Before his sentencing, the court revealed he was aware of the girl's age.
He served 12 months of his four-year sentence and resumed his professional sports career in 2018, representing the Netherlands at various global tournaments.
Last year, he competed in the Paris Olympics, where he was booed by some in the crowd, following an online petition that garnered over 90,000 signatures advocating for his exclusion from the games.
The BBC has reached out to the organizers of the world championship event in South Australia and the Dutch national volleyball association for comments.
