First Dutch stealthing conviction overturned for lack of proof man removed condom

The Hague Court of Appeal has overturned the Netherlands’ first-ever stealthing conviction. According to the appeals court, there is not enough evidence to prove that the 29-year-old suspect, Khaldoun F., sneakily removed his condom during sex. Therefore, the court acquitted him on appeal of rape and coercion.

On 26 August 2021, F. had consensual sex with a woman. According to the woman, her consent was on the condition that the man would use a condom during vaginal penetration, but he secretly removed the condom without her noticing, known as stealthing.

When the case first came to trial, the Rotterdam court acquitted F. of rape because the sex was consensual. But it did convict him of coercion for stealthing and sentenced him to 3 months in prison. The OM appealed against the ruling

The appeals court now overturned that conviction due to insufficient evidence, “The WhatsApp messages between the suspect and the complainant after sex do not provide sufficient evidence for this,” the appeals court said. “Therefore, the court - for this reason alone - acquits the suspect of the charges against him.”

The appeals court stressed that its ruling did not address the question of whether stealthing can be qualified as rape or coercion, only the lack of evidence.

When the OM filed its appeal against the lower court verdict last year, it argued F. should have been convicted of rape, not coercion. The prosecutors argued stealthing was proven, and that it was a form of forcing a partner to have unsafe sex.

The OM wanted F. to spend a year in prison, saying the lower court’s sentence of three months of probation was too light. “The OM does not consider the fully conditional imposed three-month prison sentence appropriate,” the OM said in March 2023