Man jailed for removing condom without consent

A Dutch court on Tuesday sentenced a man to suspended prison for having removed a condom, without consent, while having sex, a practice known as “stealthing”. This is the first sentence imposed to punish this practice in the Netherlands.

(Also: Monuments of Paris sink into mountains of garbage due to collectors’ strike)

The 28-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to coercion before the Rotterdam court, acknowledging that the condom had been secretly withdrawn despite the fact that the person with whom he was having sex had previously indicated that he did not want to have unprotected sex.

(Keep reading: Russia passes law that punishes false information about mercenaries with 15 years)

“This action is also called ‘stealthing,'” the court stated in a statement. “In this way, he exposed (the woman) to contracting sexually transmitted diseases and an unwanted pregnancy,” he added.

The judges considered that there was no rape because there was “an agreement between the suspect and the complainant about sexual penetration” and that the coercion only concerned the fact of not using a condom. The man was sentenced to three months in prison and a fine of 1,000 euros ($1,070).

(Also: Russia and the UN are negotiating how to renew the cereal export agreement)

Dutch law does not stipulate anything against “stealthing” and this was one of the first prosecutions in the Netherlands for this practiceindicated the public broadcasting group NOS, adding that similar rulings were also issued in other countries such as Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand.

(Also read: Study reveals the countries and regions that imported the most weapons in 2022)

In 2021, California became the first US state to ban the practice.

AFP