He was 19. She was 12. He met her on facebook, travelled from the Netherlands to England, gave her alcohol when her mom was out and had sex with her.
He was sentence to 4 years, served 13 months and has been back in society for a decade. He's even married with a kid. He's been playing volleyball for years but given this is the Olympics, it's garnering a lot of publicity.
He was 19. She was 12. He met her on facebook, travelled from the Netherlands to England, gave her alcohol when her mom was out and had sex with her.
He was sentence to 4 years, served 13 months and has been back in society for a decade. He's even married with a kid. He's been playing volleyball for years but given this is the Olympics, it's garnering a lot of publicity.
He was 19. She was 12. He met her on facebook, travelled from the Netherlands to England, gave her alcohol when her mom was out and had sex with her.
He was sentence to 4 years, served 13 months and has been back in society for a decade. He's even married with a kid. He's been playing volleyball for years but given this is the Olympics, it's garnering a lot of publicity.
I have been following this news story for a little bit. According to his side of the story, they met online and she said that she was 16. He fell in love but then he found out that she was actually 12. He broke off contact but when he was going through a though time, he reached out again. He flew over to the UK and they drank alcohol together and had sex.
UK law states that any sex with a 12 year old is rape, because a 12 year old can’t consent to sex. Dutch law classifies this as “ontucht” which is kind of like 2nd degree rape. There was consent, but it was not legal consent. He spent a year in jail in the UK and was then transferred to the Netherlands. Because the Netherlands classifies this crime differently, he only spent another month or so in jail in the Netherlands.
A lot of news outlets open with “athlete convicted of raping a 12 year old is going to the Olympics” and then obviously people are outraged. The full story is a bit more nuanced, but even then his actions were disgusting. As a Dutch person, I definitely won’t be cheering for him.
Now, should he be allowed to compete at the Olympics? I don’t really know. He met all the athletic qualification criteria, so it would be down to some sort of judge of moral character. Should the IOC, or maybe the Dutch association, exclude people based on past behavior outside the sport? And if so, what criteria should they use?
Yes, feminists lobbied the EU to mandate that every member state define sex below a certain age as rape, in addition to existing age of consent laws. So while the age of consent is 16 in the UK, it's considered rape if the girl is under 13, no matter if she was willing or not. In Germany, the age of consent is 14, and they set the age at 14. In France it's 15, like the age of consent there.
He obviously made a huge mistake, but FFS he was a teenager who had sex with a willing 12 year old who had lied to him that she was 16. To portray him as a 'child rapist' for life and ban him from the athlete's village as though he is going to creep into the beds of female athletes and rape them is pretty awful. We're turning medieaval again when it comes to our punishments for even relatively minor sex crimes committed by males who were practically adolescents themselves.
I remember when I was growing up and it was quite common for girls in my class at 13 or 14 to be sleeping with 18 and 19 year olds. Nobody really thought anything of it. We used to laugh at the puritanical stupidity of Americans for locking up 18 year olds for having sex with 14 year olds. Now even in Europe they are branded online as paedophiles or child rapists for the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, US presidents probably do a lot worse and get away with it.
He acknowledged what he did was wrong, served his time and has been fully rehabilitated. He just wants to compete and is not complaining about any of the conditions imposed on him for the OGs.
By contrast, Alexander Zverev is a serial domestic abuser, denied it all and has never faced any repercussions, other than having to pay off a victim to get charges dropped. He gets to compete in Paris despite several bad on court incidents, including smashing his racket on the main referee's chair and almost starting a fight with Fils after getting beat by a sneaky underhanded serve.
if it was a 29 year old you have to call it paedophilia. 19 and 12, still dodgy, but not so much. if she looked a bit older for her age; if she could genuinely pass for 16; then you could go as far as to say this guy has already been punished too much. and i dislike the word rape in this context because it implies force/assault. OP should call it what it actually was - statutory rape.
Reading some of these responses - reminder for parents/guardians etc that idiots and sociopaths who would try to minimize or explain away this sort of crime are not uncommon. Apparently no comprehension of the damage that can be done to a child by a RAPIST like van de Velde.
He was 19. She was 12. He met her on facebook, travelled from the Netherlands to England, gave her alcohol when her mom was out and had sex with her.
He was sentence to 4 years, served 13 months and has been back in society for a decade. He's even married with a kid. He's been playing volleyball for years but given this is the Olympics, it's garnering a lot of publicity.
Yes, feminists lobbied the EU to mandate that every member state define sex below a certain age as rape, in addition to existing age of consent laws. So while the age of consent is 16 in the UK, it's considered rape if the girl is under 13, no matter if she was willing or not. In Germany, the age of consent is 14, and they set the age at 14. In France it's 15, like the age of consent there.
He obviously made a huge mistake, but FFS he was a teenager who had sex with a willing 12 year old who had lied to him that she was 16. To portray him as a 'child rapist' for life and ban him from the athlete's village as though he is going to creep into the beds of female athletes and rape them is pretty awful. We're turning medieaval again when it comes to our punishments for even relatively minor sex crimes committed by males who were practically adolescents themselves.
That's because it is rape. He knew that she was 12. It's completely wrong. How on earth are you trying to make out that it's OK? He found out that she was 12 years old and still had sex with her, it's child rape. A child cannot consent, no matter the circumstances. That law protects children from that vile defence. People use it with 9 year olds abroad btw. That they 'wanted to'. It's completely wrong and disgusting. A 12 year old is a child.
That's because it is rape. He knew that she was 12. It's completely wrong. How on earth are you trying to make out that it's OK? He found out that she was 12 years old and still had sex with her, it's child rape. A child cannot consent, no matter the circumstances. That law protects children from that vile defence. People use it with 9 year olds abroad btw. That they 'wanted to'. It's completely wrong and disgusting. A 12 year old is a child.
if a 12 year old is a child, and I wouldn't disagree, then you can make a case for a 19 year old not really being an adult either, since their brains have not fully formed. it isn't rape. it's statutory rape. there is a big difference - hence the reason why they are called different things in courtrooms.
some of the people on here (probably parents thinking of this happening to their daughter) have forgotten all males are biologically programmed to be sexually attracted to any female that has gone through puberty, and at 12 she probably was well on the way. not saying it's right in the context of the social constructs we have built in the western world, but it's a normal human urge. don't like it, don't blame me, blame biology.
There is a huge difference between "biologically programmed to be sexually attracted" and acting on that attraction in the way that van de Velde did. How about some more attempts at minimizing and justifying? 19 and 12...
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.
