The Oslo district court ruled on Monday that Marius Borg Høiby, the 29-year-old son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit, may leave pre-trial detention and serve the remaining four weeks of his custody under house arrest at the Skaugum estate, fitted with an electronic ankle monitor. The decision keeps him in detention but replaces prison with confinement at the crown princely residence. The prosecution immediately challenged the ruling, having sought a straightforward extension of custody, and has until Tuesday noon to formalise its appeal.

Norwegian prosecutors had warned of a risk of re-offending, noting that Høiby had repeatedly violated a restraining order against an ex-girlfriend. The defence, led by lawyer Petar Sekulic, argued that his client needed to be with his mother, who is recovering from a lung transplant, and that there was no danger of repetition. The court accepted the defence’s request on the location of detention while maintaining the custody order. Høiby accepted the ruling; his lawyer described the ankle monitor as “an option he can live with for now.”

Høiby was convicted in June on multiple charges including two counts of rape under Norwegian law and violence against a former partner. He has appealed the four-year sentence, which is not yet legally binding. Since his arrest in August 2024 and the start of the trial in February, he has been held in pre-trial custody. Norwegian media report that he had previously been allowed escorted hospital visits to see his mother, a privilege that the head of a prisoners’ support group described as unusual. The house arrest order confines him to a small red house on the Skaugum property, with electronic monitoring and a ban on leaving the grounds.

In a separate but procedurally similar case, Brazil’s Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes granted humanitarian house arrest to pastor Márcio Poncio, an investigated figure in Rio de Janeiro, citing his severe chronic illness and his wife’s high-risk pregnancy. The Brazilian ruling imposed an ankle monitor, a social media ban, and a prohibition on contact with co-defendants. Viewed from Oslo, the Høiby decision now hinges on whether the prosecution proceeds with its appeal; if it does, a higher court will review the house arrest order. A potential appeals trial for Høiby could take place next year, leaving his custody status uncertain in the interim.