Dutch volleyball player and convicted child rapist denied visa to compete in Australia

A Dutch Olympic volleyball player convicted of raping a British girl more than 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 said "we do not believe that foreign child sex offenders should be granted entry to this country".

Australia's Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said 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 in 2016, he was extradited to the UK and arrested. Ahead of his sentencing, the court heard he was aware of the girl's age.

He served 12 months of his four-year sentence and restarted his professional sporting career in 2018, playing for his national team in several global tournaments.

Last year, he represented the Netherlands at the Paris Olympics and was booed by some people in the crowd. Earlier, an online petition calling for him to be banned from the Olympics had attracted 90,000 signatures.

The BBC has contacted the organisers of the world championship event in South Australia and the Dutch national volleyball association for comment.