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 affirmed 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. Ahead of his sentencing, the court heard he was aware of the girl's age.
He served 12 months of his four-year sentence, restarting his sporting career in 2018, and represented the Netherlands at the Paris Olympics last year, where he was booed by some fans. An online petition to ban him from the Olympics had garnered 90,000 signatures.
The BBC has reached out to the event's organizers and the Dutch national volleyball association for comments.
