Dad says Mathieu van der Poel should have been jailed after ‘vicious assault’ on his daughter
Father irate that Dutch rider was allowed to 'flee country' with just a fine
The father of the 13-year-old daughter that Mathieu van der Poel had an altercation with is furious that the Tour de France stage winner was allowed to return to his native Netherlands.
MvdP spent the night with police on the eve of the road worlds, following being arrested in the middle of the night for assaulting two girls.
According to various reports, van der Poel had problems with kids knocking on the door where he was staying. Apparently, the young girls decided to play “nicky nicky nine doors” on the Tour de France stage winner, and it didn’t exactly go over well with him. Videos and transcripts of the event have made their way on the web as well.
Mathieu van der Poel flew back home to the Netherlands on Tuesday after he was found guilty of two charges of common assault and charged $1,500 in fines.
Mathieu van der Poel’s lawyer has said he will try and overturn the conviction.
The Alpecin-Fenix rider said the teenagers didn’t stop knocking on his door even after Roxanne Bertels, his girlfriend, asked them to. In frustration, van der Poel decided to chase them into their room.
“It’s true, yes. There was a small dispute. It was about noisy neighbors and they are quite strict here,” Van der Poel said to Sporza. “I went to bed early and many children in the hallway of my room found it necessary to knock on the door continuously.
“He admits he dealt with it inappropriately but still there’s an explanation,” criminal lawyer Michael Bowe said after the conviction. “The damage he suffered was enormous. He feels like he’s let his whole country down and his whole team.”
The girl’s father, John, said he thought a fine was not enough, and he didn’t believe that MvdP should have been able to leave Australia. “If I assaulted children, I’d be locked up in jail for a year because I can’t afford bail,’ he said to the Daily Mail. “Child abuse is a big thing.”
Their father said that since the assault, his daughter has been having nightmares. “’We went to the hospital on Sunday and I’m taking her to the psychologist because she’s scared,” he added. “She’s worried she’s in trouble and has done something wrong because some people are blaming her and me, saying it was the girls’ fault and I’m a bad parent, but it was the school holidays, what kids at that age are going to bed at nine o’clock?”
Apparently, hotel staff did try to call triple-0 (the Aussie equivalent of 911) but their father said ultimately it was his daughter who alerted police.
