Prosecutor appeals “stealthing” condom case, seeking rape conviction, harsher punishment

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) appealed against the Netherlands’ first-ever conviction for stealthing - secretly removing a condom during sex. The OM wants suspect Khaldoun F. convicted of rape, not coercion, as the court ruled.

During a date with a woman in the summer of 2021, F. and his date agreed to have sex and that F. would wear a condom. When they were making out, he allegedly took off the condom in secret. That is known by the English-language slang term stealthing: when a man removes or omits a condom without the consent and knowledge of his sexual partner. It is a form of forced unsafe sex, the public prosecutor argued during the trial.

The court convicted the 28-year-old man from Rotterdam of coercion but acquitted him of rape, sentencing him to 3 months on probation. The OM had demanded 12 months in prison against the man, charging him with rape.

“The OM does not consider the fully conditional imposed three-month prison sentence appropriate,” the OM said in its notice of appeal.

In another similar case, the court acquitted 26-year-old Ruben R. from Rotterdam entirely, saying there was insufficient evidence to prove that he had intentionally omitted a condom. R. said that he forgot to put on a second condom after having anal sex with his partner because he got distracted by her sex toys during foreplay. The OM will not appeal this ruling.