The stepson of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit is set to be released from custody after being arrested on rape charges last week.
Marius Borg Høiby, Mette-Marit’s eldest stepson born before her marriage to the heir apparent to the Norwegian throne, Crown Prince Haakon, was arrested for allegedly raping a woman in Oslo — his third arrest in a matter of months.
On Wednesday, local police said they would not be seeking further detention of the 27-year-old because there was no indication that vital evidence to the case would be removed, local news outlet NRK reports.
“This was not surprising. He shouldn’t have been imprisoned at all,” Øyvind Bratlien, Borg Høiby’s defense attorney, told the outlet.
Meanwhile, Oslo police have launched a new investigation into a fresh sexual assault allegation against Borg Høiby, for which he has not been charged.
The Post has reached out to the Norwegian royal family’s office for comment.
Borg Høiby, who has no royal title or official duties, was preliminarily charged with having “sexual intercourse with someone who is unconscious or for other reasons unable to resist the act,” police said in a statement.
Police did not reveal when the alleged rape occurred, but said that “the victim must have been unable to resist the act.”
“She is having a hard time,” said the accuser’s lawyer, Hege Salomon, noting that it was police, not the woman, who brought the case forward.
Borg Høiby has denied the allegations, according to local reports.
At the time of his arrest, police said Borg Høiby was in a car with a woman — reportedly his girlfriend — he was previously suspected of physically assaulting on August 4.
That month, he was accused of causing bodily harm to a woman he was reportedly in a relationship with at her apartment, according to Agence France-Presse.
He was detained after police reportedly found a knife stabbed into one of the walls of the woman’s bedroom.
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He has since been hit with several additional preliminary charges, including violating several restraining orders and driving without a valid driver’s license. The cases in total involve four women and one man, according to police.
A preliminary charges allows authorities to detain suspects during an investigation before a formal charge is handed out.
Borg Høiby resides with the royal couple and his two stepsiblings, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 20, and Prince Sverre Magnus,18.
The three were raised together by Mette-Marit and Haakon, although Borg Høiby has no official royal duties.
