An Oslo court sentenced Marius Borg Høiby, the stepson of Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon, to four years in prison on Monday after he was found guilty on two counts of rape and one count of domestic violence.
The 29-year-old son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who married into the Norwegian royal family in 2001, was acquitted on two other rape charges. He faced 40 charges in total, ranging from drug-related offences, assault and violating a restraining order.
He denied the rape allegations but admitted to several of the lesser offences.
He was also convicted of assault and abuse in a close relationship. In addition to a prison sentence, Høiby was ordered to pay compensation to the victims.
He was not present in court on Monday because of health reasons, but watched the verdict reading via a video link from prison, The Associated Press reported.
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Høiby’s lawyers told Norwegian media on Monday they intend to seek his temporary release and file an appeal.
Høiby is “satisfied” with the relatively extensive acquittals, his defence lawyer Petar Sekulic said in an email to Swedish news agency TT, but would challenge the parts of the verdict concerning the two rapes and the abuse in a close relationship.
Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of seven years and seven months in prison, while defence lawyers had argued that he should be acquitted of the rape allegations and receive no more than 18 months for offences he had admitted to.
A picture taken on June 16, 2022, in Oslo, Norway, shows Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit.
Hakon Mosvold Larsen / NTB / AFP via Getty Images
During his trial, Høiby complained about the media coverage and how he had become “an object of hatred,” the BBC reported.
“I’m not Marius anymore, I’m a monster. I’ve become the hate target of all of Norway,” he told the court.
During the first week of the trial, the court heard testimony from a woman who claimed that Høiby raped her at an after-party in the basement of his parents’ estate outside Oslo in December 2018.
The woman said she felt “betrayal and shock” after police showed her videos of Høiby sexually assaulting her. She said she had no memory of what happened and referred to her memory as a “black hole.”
When asked about the rape in 2018, Høiby told the court that he did not remember taking videos and denied that he had raped the woman. He said they had consensual sex after other people at the after-party had gone to bed.
When asked by the prosecutor if the woman was awake when they had sex, Høiby said, “I don’t sleep with women who aren’t awake.”
Hoiby was found guilty of the 2018 rape charge and of a second incident involving a woman he met at a party in Oslo in March 2024.
He has been under scrutiny since he was repeatedly arrested in 2024 amid allegations of rape and on preliminary charges of bodily harm and criminal damage.
The royal palace said it was up to the courts to handle the case and reach a decision.
The 29-year-old has no royal title or official duties.
— with files from The Associated Press and Global News’ Katie Scott
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