The 29-year-old son of Norway’s crown princess informed an Oslo courtroom on Tuesday that he didn’t rape 4 ladies, arguing that he perceived the intercourse as consensual.
Marius Borg Hoiby, Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son from a relationship previous to her 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is accused of raping them between 2018 and 2024, in addition to a string of different crimes.
His trial has thrown the Norwegian royal household into turmoil, at a time when Mette-Marit has additionally come beneath fireplace over just lately unsealed US paperwork revealing her shut friendship with the late convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Clad in inexperienced trousers and a sweater, Hoiby remained expressionless within the Oslo district courtroom as prosecutors learn out the 38 costs towards him, which may see him jailed for as much as 16 years.
Whereas Hoiby pleaded not responsible to the rapes, he admitted guilt for a number of of the extra minor counts, together with assaults, a narcotics cost, site visitors offences and violations of restraining orders.
He was arrested once more on Sunday on suspicion of assault, making threats with a knife and violating a restraining order, and was remanded in custody for 4 weeks.
The prosecution offered particulars of the alleged rapes and assaults to the packed courtroom as Hoiby, his head bowed, fidgeted nervously.
The alleged rapes — together with one whereas he was on vacation in 2023 together with his royal stepfather in Norway’s Lofoten Islands — all befell after consensual intercourse, typically following evenings of heavy ingesting when the ladies weren’t in a state to defend themselves, the prosecution claimed.
“If Marius says he’s not responsible … it’s just because he perceived all the acts as completely regular and consensual sexual relations,” the defence argued.
Certainly one of his alleged victims testified, in tears, about an after-party in 2018 at Hoiby’s residence on his mother and father’ Skaugum property outdoors Oslo.
Police found footage on Hoiby’s telephone exhibiting what they described as Mette-Marit’s son raping the alleged sufferer whereas she slept. The sufferer informed the courtroom that she couldn’t bear in mind having fallen asleep after reducing brief a short sexual encounter with Hoiby.
– Handled like anybody else –
Hoiby “should not be handled extra severely nor extra leniently due to his household connections”, prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo informed the courtroom.
The defence in the meantime criticised the “detrimental media tsunami” that risked convicting Hoiby prematurely.
“The judgment should be handed down on this courtroom, nowhere else,” lawyer Ellen Holager Andenaes informed the courtroom.
“It’s actually inconceivable for me to explain the influence that this has had on Marius’s life and psychological well being throughout the previous 18 months,” she added.
Hoiby was first arrested on August 4, 2024 on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend the night time earlier than.
A number of days later, he admitted he had acted “inebriated and cocaine after an argument”, having suffered from “psychological troubles” and struggling “for a very long time with substance abuse”.
A number of ex-girlfriends then got here ahead and stated he had abused them, each bodily and mentally.
The police investigation uncovered a string of different suspected offences, together with the rapes of 4 ladies whereas they have been sleeping or handed out drunk, which he filmed or took photos of.
The final alleged rape befell after the police investigation started.
In January, police introduced six extra counts towards him, together with a drug cost from 2020 after he confessed to transporting 3.5 kilos (practically eight kilos) of marijuana.
– Kicks and punches –
The identities of the seven alleged victims can’t be disclosed, apart from ex-girlfriend Nora Haukland, a mannequin and influencer who has publicly accused him of bodily abuse.
In 2022-2023, whereas the 2 have been in a relationship, Hoiby repeatedly struck her within the face, kicked and punched her, grabbed her by the throat, threw her towards a fridge and hurled insults at her, the prosecution stated.
The scandal has dealt a blow to the monarchy’s popularity, although it stays broadly standard because of King Harald and Queen Sonja — each 88 — who’re revered as unifying figures.
A ballot revealed Tuesday by tv channel TV2 prompt that greater than 70 % of Norwegians suppose the monarchy’s standing has been weakened in recent times by varied scandals.
The crown prince couple will not be attending the trial, which comes as Mette-Marit, 52, faces battles on a number of fronts.
Apart from questions over her relationship with Epstein, she suffers from an incurable lung illness and can seemingly want a dangerous lung transplant sooner or later.
The Hoiby verdict is predicted a number of weeks after the trial ends on March 19.
The publish ‘Sex was consensual’, Norway crown princess’s son tells rape trial appeared first on Vanguard News.
