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Dutch Olympian who raped a 12-year-old girl ‘is not a paedophile’, official says (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/world

197 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A senior official with the Dutch Olympic committee has insisted that a convicted child rapist in its beach volleyball team is not a paedophile, in an email seen by the Guardian.

A concerned British man who has lived in the Netherlands for more than a decade, wrote to the Dutch Olympic committee and called the inclusion of Steven van de Velde in the team “a stain on the Dutch national side”. In a reply the Dutch Olympic committee spokesperson wrote: “Steven is NOT a peadophile [sic]; you really don’t think that de Dutch NOC would send someone to Paris who IS a real risk? No, he isn’t a risk.”

There has been mounting public anger at the presence of the beach volleyball player Van de Velde, who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2016. Earlier this week the International Olympic Committee faced calls for an investigation into how a convicted child rapist has been allowed to compete at Paris 2024. The IOC has said the selection of athletes for the Games was the responsibility of individual committees.

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[–] [email protected] 133 points 1 month ago (4 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_van_de_Velde

Under a treaty between the Netherlands and UK, Van de Velde was transferred to the Netherlands to serve his sentence. The sentence was at that time adjusted in line with Dutch law, and the charge of rape was substituted for that of fornication.[11] After serving a year of his original four year sentence, he was released from prison.[8]

So basically the Dutch think it's ok for a 19 year old to get a 12 year old drunk and rape her.

The victim would eventually go on to self-harm and once overdosed.

Some people are saying it ok because it was consensual, this doesn't make it sound very consensual to me.

Wtf.

[–] GoosLife 70 points 1 month ago

Consensual? Kids cannot consent. Kids are confused, curious hormone bombs who are easily manipulated and tend to put a lot of trust in adults who sound like they know what they're doing. That's the entire point of why we place that responsibility on the adults, and not the kids who don't know what the fuck they're doing.

[–] Snapz 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"Some people are saying..."

Who Tyler... Who are you talking about here?

You can't have consensual sex with a 12 year old.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Further down in this thread. https://lemmy.ca/post/25818425/10643476

Also https://www.gbnews.com/sport/dutch-olympic-committee-defend-steven-van-de-velde-rape

De Telegraaf newspaper played down the conviction, insisting that “they had consensual sex” and that “sex with a 12-year-old girl is labelled as rape” in Britain, while in the Netherlands “punishment in this area is much milder”.

I agree with you.

[–] candybrie 2 points 1 month ago

That comment isn't saying it was consensual; it's saying her age is what made it nonconsensual, so you can't just ignore her age.

[–] gmtom 6 points 1 month ago

So basically the Dutch think it's ok for a 19 year old to get a 12 year old drunk and rape her.

No, he was put in prison for it. You can criticise the length of the sentence if you want, but phra as ING it like they let him off Scott free is misleading.

[–] drmoose 3 points 1 month ago

Generally I believe in rehab but this case is seriously WTF. The dude's lack of remorse is even bigger WTF. No one should be defending this monster.