<\/p>\n
The stepson of Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon has been found guilty of two counts of rape and other crimes.<\/p>\n
Marius Borg H\u00f8iby, 29, has been sentenced to four years in prison.<\/p>\n
An Oslo court made the ruling on Monday.<\/p>\n
H\u00f8iby was acquitted of two other counts of rape.<\/p>\n
He pleaded not guilty to the most severe accusations against him, including rape, while admitting to some lesser ones, and can appeal against the verdict.<\/p>\n
H\u00f8iby joined the royal family when his mother Mette-Marit married Haakon in 2001.<\/p>\n Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit. (Reuters: Leonhard Foeger<\/span>)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Prosecutors had asked that H\u00f8iby should be sentenced to seven years and seven months of prison.<\/p>\n He watched the verdict via video link from prison but could not be seen or heard in the courtroom.<\/p>\n The seven-week trial detailed H\u00f8iby’s drug addiction and self-made videos of sexual encounters. More than 800 electronic messages were entered into evidence.<\/p>\n One alleged rape took place in the basement of the crown prince’s family home, the court heard.<\/p>\n “The court finds it is proven she was not able to resist the action,” Oslo District Court Judge Jon Sverdrup Efjestad said of the rape in the home basement, while reading the verdict.<\/p>\n Only one of the women accusing H\u00f8iby of rape was in court to hear the verdict.<\/p>\n She cried after the judge said H\u00f8iby was guilty of raping her and dabbed her eyes with a tissue her lawyer gave her.<\/p>\n The case, which coincided with Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s apology for maintaining contact with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> after he was convicted in 2008, has contributed to a decline in popularity for the royals.<\/p>\nRoyals’ popularity suffers<\/h2>\n