Prosecutors in Norway called Wednesday for the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Marius Borg Hoiby, to serve seven years and seven months in prison for offences including raping four women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hoiby, the princess\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRape can leave lasting scars and destroy lives,\u201d prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo argued on the second-to-last day of the trial before an Oslo court, a case that has made headlines worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt can be something the victim carries with them for their entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dressed in jeans and a blue sweater, Hoiby, who does not formally belong to the royal household, did not react to the sentence called for by the prosecutor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hoiby has pleaded guilty to several relatively minor offences, but has denied the alleged rapes, which the prosecution said took place while the women were asleep or passed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Central to the case has been whether or not the women were in a condition to object to having sex.Related News<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scandal, which has seriously damaged the Norwegian monarchy\u2019s image, erupted on August 4, 2024, when police arrested Hoiby on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend the night before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 to be rapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until they were called in for questioning by police, the four alleged victims had been unaware of what had happened to them or that the actions could \u2014 according to the prosecution \u2014 be considered criminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the prosecution\u2019s closing arguments, lawyers for the alleged victims were to address the court, after which Hoiby\u2019s lawyers were to present their final arguments on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court is expected to hand down its verdict in several weeks or even months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prosecutors in Norway called Wednesday for the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Marius Borg Hoiby, to serve seven years and seven months in prison for offences including raping four women. Hoiby, the princess\u2019s 29-year-old son from a relationship before her 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is on trial on 40 counts that carry a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":87813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t