Marius Borg Hoiby, the 29-year-old son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit, has been accused by a second woman of raping her while she slept, in a case being heard in an Oslo court. The woman described the alleged assault as her “worst nightmare.”
Hoiby, born from a relationship before Mette-Marit's 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is facing 38 charges, including rape of four women and assaults on former girlfriends. He has pleaded not guilty to the most serious charges and could face up to 16 years in prison if convicted.
On Tuesday, the alleged victim testified that the incident occurred on October 8, 2023, following an after-party in an apartment in Norway’s Lofoten Islands, where Hoiby and his stepfather were visiting on a surfing trip. According to the prosecution, after consensual sex, Hoiby resumed sexual activity while she was asleep.
“That’s always been my worst nightmare,” she told the court, recalling how she closed her eyes “so I wouldn’t have to take part in my own assault.” She added:
“I remember waking up when he was already underway. I thought, ‘I don’t understand how someone can have sex with someone who’s sleeping.’ Then, I mostly had the feeling I was dissociating, leaving my own body. It was painful; my body wasn’t ready for it.”
Prosecutors submitted a video recorded on Hoiby’s phone as evidence, showing the woman asleep, along with data from her fitness watch indicating she was asleep at the time. Prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo told the court that “the change in heart rate is the most decisive factor” in establishing that she was not conscious during the alleged assault.
Hoiby, appearing pale and with trembling hands, was scheduled to take the stand later Tuesday.
Last week, the court heard from another woman who alleged Hoiby raped her in December 2018 at an after-party in the basement of his parents’ royal estate outside Oslo.
The defence has rejected all the rape allegations, arguing that the encounters were “perfectly normal and consensual sexual relations.”
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