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PROSECUTORS IN NORWAY called for the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Marius Borg Høiby, to serve seven years and seven months in prison for offences including the alleged rape of four women.
Hoiby, the princess’s 29-year-old son from a relationship before her 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is on trial on 40 counts that carry a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison.
“Rape can leave lasting scars and destroy lives,” prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo argued on the second-to-last day of the trial that has made headlines worldwide.
“It can be something the victim carries with them for their entire life.”
Dressed in jeans and a blue polo shirt that revealed his arm tattoos, Høiby, who does not formally belong to the royal household, did not react to the sentence called for by the prosecutor in the Oslo court.
He has pleaded guilty to several relatively minor offences but denied the alleged rapes, which the prosecution said took place while the women were asleep or passed out.
Central to the case has been whether or not the women were in a condition to consent to having sex.
The scandal – which has seriously damaged the Norwegian monarchy’s image – erupted on 4 August 2024, when police arrested Høiby on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend the night before.
The investigation into that incident uncovered a slew of other suspected offences, as video footage and pictures on his phone and laptop depicted what police believed could be rapes.
Until they were called in for questioning by police, the four alleged victims said they had been unaware of what had happened to them or that the actions could – according to the prosecution – be considered criminal.
The alleged rapes all took place after nights of partying, during which Høiby had consumed alcohol and drugs, and following consensual sex.
One of them allegedly took place in the the basement of the residence of the crown prince couple, while they were home.
In his closing arguments, Henriksbo painted a picture of the accused as a person “who thinks he can do whatever he wants” and who cared little about checking with his sex partners “when they were asleep and he wanted more”.
Throughout the trial – in which Høiby testified he had repeated blackouts about the nights in question – the accused insisted that all of the sex had been consensual and that he was not in the habit of having sex with people who were asleep.
Høiby was also accused of physically abusing ex-girlfriends.
The prosecutor described him as a man “prone to fits of anger, jealous, and, especially when under the influence, capable of losing control”.
“He can lose it, ‘blow a fuse’, scream, throw phones, even knives, kick walls. And we even heard [testimony] about strangling, hitting and spitting,” Henriksbo said.
“Marius Borg Høiby is not a monster. None of us are. We’re all human beings, with good and bad sides. He should not be judged for who he is, but for what he’s done,” the prosecutor said.
On Friday, the princess’s son broke down in tears when he spoke of the “media pressure” that, in his view, has “erased him as a person”.
“I’m no longer Marius, I’m a monster. I’ve become the hate target of all of Norway,” he told the court.
Høiby is also accused of making threats, violating restraining orders, property damage, traffic offences and transporting 3.5kg of marijuana, without financial gain, according to him.
The tall blond man with the beginnings of a goatee, wearing rings and earrings, spent much of the trial slouched over the defendant’s table, drawing and chewing gum or using moist snuff.
After the prosecution’s closing arguments, lawyers for the alleged victims were to address the court, following which Hoiby’s defence lawyers were to present their final arguments tomorrow.
The court is expected to hand down its verdict in several weeks’ or possibly months’ time.
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