The son of the Crown Princess of Norway faces 38 charges, including 4 rape cases

Norwegian police arrested Marius Borg Høby, the eldest son of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, on new charges, before his appearance in court in the capital, Oslo, on charges of rape and other crimes.

The police explained, in an official statement, that the arrest took place after Hoibi was suspected of assaulting and threatening a person with a knife, in addition to violating a judicial order preventing him from communicating with certain parties.

Oslo Police Prosecutor Andreas Kruszewski confirmed that these charges were the result of ongoing investigations, pointing out the seriousness of the actions attributed to the accused.

Hoibi, 29 years old, faces a total of 38 charges, including four cases of rape. Despite the seriousness of these accusations, the accused denied most of them, while admitting to committing some violations that he described as minor.

Marius Borg-Hoebe is the son of Princess Mette-Marit from a previous marriage, while the princess and Crown Prince Haakon have two other children, Princess Ingrid and her younger brother, Prince Sverre Magnus, who is 19 years old.

Høby grew up in the Norwegian royal family and under the spotlight, enjoying the same wealth and privileges as his siblings, even though his father, Morten Borg, had served time in prison for drug and violence-related cases.

The Norwegian police requested that Hoebe be kept in pretrial detention for four weeks, justifying this due to fears that he might commit other crimes.

His trial, which is scheduled to continue until next March 19, is expected to receive wide media follow-up inside and outside Norway, given the sensitivity of the case and its connection to the royal family.

In this context, a ban was imposed on publishing photos of the accused inside or outside the courtroom for seven weeks. Ex-girlfriends also joined the list of plaintiffs in the case, and Hoibi was placed under strict orders prohibiting him from communicating with them in any way.

If convicted by the Oslo District Court, Hoebi could face a prison sentence of up to about 10 years.

This case set a precedent in the history of the Norwegian royal family, as Hoebe became the first person directly related to it to face criminal charges of this magnitude, which led to his name being removed from the official list of members of the royal family.

These accusations clearly affected the family’s image in the eyes of public opinion, as opinion polls showed a decline in support for them from 81% in 2017 to 62% last September. Despite the charges being brought against him since August last year, Hoebe continued his life almost normally, and traveled with his friends to several destinations, including Hemsedal, Copenhagen, and Italy.

Reports also indicated that Hoibi has spent periods in treatment and rehabilitation centers in London since his arrest, in an attempt to deal with the consequences of the cases filed against him, at a time when investigations and trials are still ongoing amid widespread media and popular interest. About “Daily Mail”