The media attention is enormous at the Oslo district court, where the request for detention will be heard on Wednesday afternoon. The court has decided, out of consideration for the plaintiffs, that the hearing will take place behind closed doors, reports NRK – despite Høiby himself wishing that the press would be allowed to attend.
According to Norwegian media, Høiby is alleged to have had sexual intercourse with a 20-year-old woman in March without her being able to resist. The Crown Princess's son denies rape, according to his defender Øyvind Bratlien.
"We will show the court that the matter looks different and is much more nuanced than what one gets the impression of through media reporting," writes Bratlien in an SMS to the news agency NTB.
According to information to Norwegian TV2, it was video finds on Høiby's previously seized mobile phone that led to the rape investigation being initiated. The videos are said to show the rape in question, but according to the defender, the film material proves Høiby's innocence.
Admitted violence
The exposed woman is not part of Høiby's social circle and does not know him, according to the prosecutor Hege Salomon.
She has it extremely tough. She is in a very difficult situation, beyond having been exposed to the criminal act, says Salomon to the press corps at the courthouse on Wednesday.
The investigation into the latest allegations began on November 6, but there has been a storm around Marius Borg Høiby since he was arrested in August suspected of assaulting a woman he had a relationship with.
He later admitted to using violence against his girlfriend and that he had used alcohol and cocaine on the occasion. Several other allegations of violence against previous girlfriends, as well as death threats against a man, have since emerged.
The Crown Prince: Serious
When Høiby was arrested on Monday, it was for the third time. In connection with this, the formal charges regarding one of the women he is accused of violence against were also extended.
The police simultaneously conducted a search of Høiby's home at the Crown Prince's farm Skaugum outside Oslo, where several seizures were made, according to media reports. The Royal Palace announces via SMS to VG that they were not informed in advance about the search.
The many criminal charges against Høiby, who is the Crown Princess Mette-Marit's son from a previous relationship, have shaken the Norwegian royal court. Crown Prince Haakon, then in Jamaica, said on Tuesday to NRK that the new allegations are "serious".
I would have liked to be home with Mette-Marit today, he said.
