A NORWEGIAN royal has been arrested on suspicion of rape – marking his third arrest by police in recent months.
Marius Borg Hoiby, 27, was detained by police on Monday evening in the latest scandal to rock the royal family.
Hoiby – the son of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit – is accused of sexually assaulting “someone who is unconscious or for other reasons unable to resist the act”, police said.
It’s the third time Hoiby has been arrested in just months over cases that involve four women and one man.
He was previously detained in August after allegedly attacking a woman he was in a relationship with, police said.
He faced preliminary charges of bodily harm and criminal damage before being released.
The victim was discharged from hospital the following day with a diagnosed concussion.
Local media claimed a knife was stuck into one of the walls of the alleged victim’s bedroom.
Police arrested Hoiby again in September for violating a restraining order by allegedly contacting her.
Officers then detained Hoiby on Monday evening after fresh information came to light during an ongoing investigation.
Prosecutor Andreas Kruszewski alleges Hoiby sexually assaulted a woman in her 20s in Oslo earlier this year.
When he was arrested, Hoiby was in a car with the alleged victim from the August incident, according to police.
While the details are unclear, local media claims Hoiby was allowing his alleged victim to borrow his car before heading overseas to attend a rehabilitation clinic in London.
On Tuesday, police also said the suspicions relating to the August incident now included domestic abuse.
Police said they had yet to decide whether he would be remanded in custody.
Hoiby’s lawyer Øyvind Bratlien said his client denied the charges.
He said: “He cooperates well with the police, and wants to explain himself”.
According to the woman’s lawyer, Hege Salomon, police brought the rape charge, not the alleged victim.
She added: “She is having a hard time, and it is heavy”.
In August, Hoiby issued a statement explaining that he had “struggled with substance abuse for a long time”.
He said that he would “resume” treatment for the problem and “take it very seriously”.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit was a single mum when she met and married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001.
Hoiby, born in 1997, was raised by the heir apparent of the Norwegian throne from three years old.
He and his step-siblings — Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 20 and Prince Sverre Magnus, 18 — were raised together by Mette-Marit and Haakon.
Unlike them, he has no royal duties after stepping away from public life at 20.
After his arrest in September, Aftenposten reported Hoiby was blocked from accessing his mother and stepfather’s home.
