The son of Norway’s crown princess pleaded not responsible to rape expenses as he went on trial Tuesday for a number of alleged offences, opening weeks of proceedings in a case that has forged a shadow on the royal household’s picture.
Marius Borg Høiby, 29, is the eldest son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit from a earlier relationship and the stepson of the inheritor to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon. Høiby has no royal title or official duties.
Høiby stood whereas prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø learn out the 38 counts towards him within the Oslo district courtroom, asking him if he pleaded responsible. He replied “no” to essentially the most severe expenses, together with the 4 counts of rape.
The fees additionally embrace abuse in a detailed relationship towards one former companion, acts of violence towards one other and transporting 3.5 kilograms (7.7 kilos) of marijuana. Others embrace making loss of life threats and site visitors violations.
Høiby pleaded responsible to a number of driving offences, to an aggravated medication offence and breaking a restraining order, and “partly” to threats and aggravated assault. Carrying glasses, a brown sweater and beige trousers, he spoke quietly and conferred often with a defence lawyer.
Prosecutors have mentioned that Høiby might resist 10 years in jail if convicted within the trial, which is scheduled to final till March 19. Seven alleged victims are anticipated to testify.
“There may be equality earlier than the legislation,” Henriksbø advised the courtroom. “The defendant is the son of the crown princess. He’s a part of the royal household. He shall nonetheless be handled in the identical manner as another one who is charged with the identical offences.”
Get day by day Nationwide information
Get the day’s high information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
The defendant sat between defence attorneys Ellen Holager Andenæs and Petar Sekulic for the start of the trial and moved later to a desk behind them, the place he fiddled with a series whereas the prosecutor outlined the allegations.
Worldwide curiosity
Reflecting worldwide curiosity within the trial, Decide Jon Sverdrup Efjestad addressed the courtroom in English, warning that it was prohibited to document or take images within the courtroom and advising that some witness testimony could be heard behind closed doorways.
Andenæs argued that Høiby’s fame had already colored the case. She mentioned he had confronted a “tsunami of publicity” over an extended interval that had made him “really feel that he’s shedding management of his life,” and that the burden of public scrutiny from hundreds of newspaper articles had made it troublesome for him to consider he might prevail.
“Like everybody else, he’s harmless till confirmed responsible. The decision can be pronounced on this courtroom and never wherever else,” the defence lawyer advised the courtroom. “It’s only you who will determine this.”
Outdoors the courtroom, Hege Salomon, a lawyer for one of many alleged rape victims, mentioned her consumer needed to stay nameless and was “very scared” that the general public may be taught her title, including “the media protection provides to the stress, particularly as a result of she’s not a well-known individual.”
Salomon mentioned her consumer had been contacted by police and determined to testify, “and she or he thinks it’s appropriate that … they’ve pressed expenses and so forth, but it surely was not her that initiated it.”
The investigation started in 2024. Police had been first referred to as to an residence in Oslo’s upscale Frogner neighbourhood following experiences of a violent incident. Høiby was arrested and later launched, however the case expanded as extra ladies got here ahead with allegations.
The indictment prosecutors facilities on 4 alleged rapes between 2018 and November 2024; alleged violence and threats towards a former companion between the summer season of 2022 and the autumn of 2023; and two alleged acts of violence towards a subsequent companion, together with violations of a restraining order.
It was expanded in January, when Høiby was charged with six extra offences, together with possession and supply of enormous portions of marijuana and additional restraining order violations.
He was free pending trial till Sunday, when police mentioned he was arrested over new allegations of assault, threats with a knife and violation of a restraining order.
Crown Prince Haakon mentioned final week that he and Mette-Marit don’t plan to attend the trial and that the royal home doesn’t intend to remark throughout the proceedings.
Royal issues
King Harald, 88, and the royals are usually common in Norway, however the Høiby case has been an issue for the household’s picture.
The trial opened at a very delicate second. Mette-Marit faces renewed scrutiny over her previous contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 in a New York jail cell as he confronted intercourse trafficking expenses, following the discharge on Friday of a brand new batch of paperwork from the Epstein recordsdata.
They contained a number of hundred mentions of the crown princess, who already mentioned in 2019 that she regretted having had contact with Epstein, Norwegian media reported. The paperwork, which embrace electronic mail exchanges, confirmed that Mette-Marit borrowed an Epstein-owned property in Palm Seashore, Florida, for a number of days in 2013. Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported that the keep was organized by a mutual good friend, which was later confirmed by the royal family.
Mette-Marit mentioned in a press release that she “should take duty for not having investigated Epstein’s background extra totally, and for not realizing sooner what sort of individual he was.” She added: “I confirmed poor judgment and remorse having had any contact with Epstein in any respect. It’s merely embarrassing.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press
Source link
#Son #Norways #crown #princess #denies #rape #expenses #trial #begins #Nationwide #Globalnews.ca
