A man from Rotterdam who secretly removed the condom he was wearing while having sex has been found not guilty of rape and coercion on appeal.

Khaldoun F, now 29, was the first Dutchman to be tried for what is known in Britain as “stealthing”, an offence that is not named in Dutch law. Last year a lower court gave him a three month suspended sentence.

The case was tried as rape because, the public prosecution department said, in removing the condom the man had subjected his bed partner to a form of sex she had not consented to.

On Thursday, the appeal court in The Hague said it “it could not be proven that the accused secretly removed the condom during the voluntary vaginal sex and acquitted the accused on this basis.”

The couple had met on line and the woman had said she had only consented to sex with a condom. But this too, the court said, could not be proved, and Whatsapp messages between the two did not provide sufficient evidence.

The court did not rule on the question of whether stealthing can be qualified as rape or coercion within the Dutch penal code.

The victim’s lawyer said the verdict was “bitter” but that his client can be proud of having taken the issue to court.