Fourth alleged rape victim testifies against Norway’s son

A fourth woman at the center of a rape case against the son of the crown princess of Norway On Wednesday he testified in an Oslo court about an alleged rape in 2024, when he was already under investigation.

Marius Borg Hoiby, 29-year-old son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit from a relationship prior to her 2001 marriage to heir apparent Crown Prince Haakon, faces 38 chargesincluding the rape of four women while they were sleeping or passed out.

Hoiby has pleaded guilty to several relatively minor crimes, but denies any violations. He faces up to 16 years in prison if convicted.

The court on Wednesday heard testimony from a woman who recounted an alleged rape on the night of Nov. 1-2, 2024. Hoiby is accused of performing sexual acts while she was asleep and filming the acts without her knowledge.

As with the other three alleged rapes, the events are said to have taken place after a night of drinking, during which Hoiby allegedly used cocaine, and after initial consensual sex in the young woman’s hotel room.

“I got more and more tired. I felt like I was lying there and he wouldn’t stop. The more tired I got, the less I participated,” she told the court.

After telling him that she wanted to sleep, she said she was woken up by “a violent blow” in the genital area.

“It was painful,” she said, adding that “I think I just froze and then fell asleep again.”

Hoiby is accused of filming 27 videos and taking four sexually explicit photographs that night, some of which prosecutors say show the woman was asleep.

Hoiby was scheduled to testify Wednesday, but will take the stand Thursday.

From the first moment he has denied the rape and maintains that all sex had been consensual.

At the time of the fourth alleged rape, he was already under police investigation. Hoiby was arrested on August 4, 2024, suspected of having assaulted his partner the night before.

The investigation into that incident uncovered a number of other suspected crimes, including video footage on his phone and laptop of what police believed were rapes.

When confronted by police, neither woman knew what had happened to them or that the actions could be considered criminal.

“I had memories of what had happened… but in my mind I hadn’t defined it as an assault,” the girl told the court Wednesday.

A few days before the trial, Hoiby was arrested on new charges of assault, threats with a knife and violation of a restraining order.

The case has deeply embarrassed the royal family, especially his mother, who suffers from an incurable lung disease and who is torn between her role as mother and future queen.

Crown Prince Haakon issued a statement in late January saying that neither he nor Mette-Marit would attend the trial.

Hoiby was raised by the royal couple alongside his half-siblings, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus. Unlike them, it has no official public role.

In his statement, Haakon alluded to Hoiby’s “autonomous” status.

“Marius Borg Hoiby is not a member of the Royal House of Norway and is therefore autonomous. We care about him and he is an important member of our family. He is a citizen of Norway and as such has the same responsibilities as everyone else, as well as the same rights,” Haakon said.