The eldest son of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, suspected of two rapes, was released Wednesday after a week of detention but is suspected of a new sexual crime, police announced.
Police did not provide details of the new charge against Marius Borg Hoiby, 27, born from a relationship prior to his mother’s marriage in 2001 to Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne.
He was arrested on November 18 on suspicion of rape and remanded in custody two days later for a week after a second suspicion of rape emerged during the investigation.
Police said the alleged rapes both involved a “sexual act” with victims being in a state that made them “unable to resist”.
The police did not request an extension of the pre-trial detention and Mr Hoiby was therefore released.
“At this time, we no longer see any risk of evidence tampering,” police said in a statement.
Mr Hoiby’s lawyer, Oyvind Bratlien, said his client’s release showed the evidence against him had “significantly weakened”.
The court’s decision to detain him was “erroneous” and resulted from “catastrophic errors of assessment”, the lawyer told the Norwegian news agency NTB.
In addition to the rape charges, Mr. Hoiby is also suspected of physical violence against three former girlfriends and violating a restraining order. Two further orders were issued against him in respect of two other women.
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.
Mr Hoiby and his half-sibling – Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 20, and Prince Sverre Magnus, 18 – were raised together by Mette-Marit and Haakon.
