A woman testifies she was drugged before being raped by the son of Norway’s crown princess, describing a “big black hole” in her memory of the alleged assault.
OSLO: A woman told a court she believes she was drugged before being raped by the son of Norway’s future queen at a royal estate.
Marius Borg Hoiby, the 29-year-old son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, is on trial accused of 38 crimes including four alleged rapes.
He has pleaded not guilty to the most serious charges and faces up to 16 years in prison if convicted.
The first alleged victim resumed her testimony about a 2018 after-party at Hoiby’s residence on the Skaugum estate.
She described a brief, consensual sexual encounter with Hoiby that she said she cut short.
Police later contacted her after discovering footage they described as showing Hoiby raping her while she slept.
“I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that Marius would do something like that to me,” she told the court.
The prosecution argues she was not in a state to defend herself on the night in question.
“Look at my face: do I look conscious? You can clearly see that I’m totally unconscious,” she said, referring to images shown in court.
“I suspect that I probably ingested something without my knowledge.”
Asked if she thought she had been drugged, she replied: “That’s what I believe. 100 percent.”
The defence noted she had told police previously she did not believe she was drugged.
The prosecution claims all four alleged rapes occurred after consensual sex when the women were incapacitated.
The defence argues Hoiby “perceived all of the acts as perfectly normal and consensual sexual relations”.
Hoiby’s lawyer described a social circle with “a lot of drug use, not just alcohol but also illegal substances”.
Doubts emerged about whether Hoiby would testify as scheduled after he appeared nervous in court on Tuesday.
The scandal has been described as the biggest in the history of the Norwegian monarchy.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon do not plan to attend the seven-week trial.
The palace confirmed the crown princess had postponed a planned private trip abroad.
Mette-Marit also faces scrutiny over revealed friendships with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
She suffers from an incurable lung disease and will likely need a risky lung transplant in the future.
