A court in the Netherlands has fined a man for harassing and intimidating a woman on a street in Rotterdam, in the first conviction under a new law tackling sexual harassment in public spaces.

The 33-year-old man was fined €100 (£84) by a court in Rotterdam on Wednesday, months after he was accused of grabbing a woman on the street by the hips and holding her. The court set out an additional fine of €180 if he is caught reoffending.

In the Netherlands, journalists and onlookers reportedly packed into the court to hear the pioneering ruling. The court ruled that the man had touched the woman without her consent and “in a manner that could be considered frightening, hurtful and degrading”.

Following concerns that the law would be nearly impossible to enforce, a pilot project had dispatched undercover teams to roam the streets of Rotterdam, Utrecht and Arnhem and look out for catcalling and harassment.

Evidence from the team in Rotterdam was key to the conviction, as they told the court they had watched the woman react with shock and fear to the man’s actions before she rushed away.