The rape trial of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg H\u00f8iby, was set to conclude on Thursday, with the defence calling for his acquittal on the most serious charges.<\/p>\n
The trial, which began in early February, has shocked Norway and drawn global media attention. The courtroom in Oslo was filled to capacity on the final day of proceedings, according to Norwegian media.<\/p>\n
In closing arguments, defence lawyer Petar Sekulic said the prosecution had failed to prove the four rape charges, the newspaper Verdens Gang reported. The defence called for H\u00f8iby to be acquitted on those counts.<\/p>\n
However, H\u00f8iby\u2019s lawyers said he should receive a prison sentence of around 18 months for offences he has admitted, including domestic violence against an ex-girlfriend, violations of a restraining order, traffic offences and transporting 3.5 kilograms of marijuana.<\/p>\n
H\u00f8iby, 29, is accused of raping four women, allegedly while they were asleep.<\/p>\n
The defendant filmed the encounters, with photos and videos from his mobile phones playing a central role in the trial. However, the defence argued that the recordings were not conclusive evidence and that, without them, the case amounted to one person\u2019s word against another\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Sekulic also sought to cast doubt on the credibility of at least one of the alleged victims and noted that, in several cases, the women had previously engaged in consensual sexual relationships with H\u00f8iby. It could not be clearly established whether they had been asleep during the incidents, he said.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, prosecutors called for a prison sentence of seven years and seven months and said H\u00f8iby should be convicted on 39 of 40 charges, including rape, assault, violations of a restraining order and traffic offences. They maintain that the rape allegations have been proven.<\/p>\n
The defence, meanwhile, described the trial as a heavy burden on H\u00f8iby, particularly because of the intense media scrutiny and its impact on his family. Belonging to the royal family had not made the situation easier, Sekulic said.<\/p>\n
H\u00f8iby has denied the sexual offence charges but admitted some of the other allegations. He has also cited memory gaps in several instances during the trial.<\/p>\n
The case has included extensive examination of personal data, including hundreds of text messages and details of H\u00f8iby\u2019s private life.<\/p>\n
The judgement is expected at a later date, with the court indicating a verdict may take several months. H\u00f8iby is expected to remain in pre-trial detention in the meantime.<\/p>\n
H\u00f8iby is the son of Mette-Marit from a previous relationship and the stepson of Crown Prince Haakon, heir to the Norwegian throne. While part of the extended royal family, he holds no title and is not an official member of the royal household.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rape trial of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg H\u00f8iby, was set to conclude on Thursday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[419,497,157,25164,496,156,644,25163],"class_list":{"0":"post-44207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oslo","8":"tag-marius-borg-hoiby","9":"tag-mette-marit","10":"tag-norway","11":"tag-norwegian-crown","12":"tag-norwegian-media","13":"tag-oslo","14":"tag-rape-charges","15":"tag-traffic-offences"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116259894451717138","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}