Suspected of two rapes, the eldest son of the Crown Princess of Norway Mette-Marit was placed in pre-trial detention for a week, the Norwegian press reported Wednesday evening, November 20, two days after his arrest. “Marius faces serious charges, which it is up to the police and the courts to deal with”Crown Prince Haakon reacted to public television NRK, before the announcement of the detention. “I am convinced that they will do a good job”he added, from Jamaica where he is traveling.
After the announcement of the detention, Marius Borg Hoiby's lawyer, Øyvind Bratlien, told NRK that his appeal of the court decision should be heard on Thursday. However, he said he was relieved that the judge did not follow the police, who demanded a two-week detention. “A week is better than two”he wrote to NRK.
Born from a relationship prior to his mother's marriage in 2001 to Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, Marius Borg Hoiby, 27, was arrested Monday evening on suspicion of rape. Police lawyer Andreas Kruszewski said on Wednesday that a second suspicion of rape had emerged during the investigation. “It is sexual intercourse carried out without consent with a woman incapable of resisting the act”he said on the sidelines of the hearing on detention which was held behind closed doors. Investigators searched and made seizures at the suspect's home.
No official public role
Marius Borg Hoiby was first arrested on August 4 following a nighttime argument in a woman's apartment in Oslo and accused of causing bodily harm to this person, with whom he was in a relationship. Norwegian media reported that police found a knife stuck in one of the walls of the woman's bedroom at the time. He was then arrested again in September for violating a protection order. Police say when he was arrested Monday, he was in a car with the alleged victim from the August incident.
Hoiby and his half-siblings – 20-year-old Princess Ingrid Alexandra and 18-year-old Prince Sverre Magnus – were raised together by Mette-Marit and Haakon. Unlike them, he has no official public role.
