Pitcairn's Island to be shut down by sex abuse trial?

Well, given that after the dust had settled on the original settlement, only one man was left alive--i would say there is a remarkable resilience in that community . . . hard to say, Boss . . .

Six convicted in Pitcairn sex trials



Adamstown, Pitcairn, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Six of seven Pitcairn men being tried on sexual assault charges on the south Pacific island were convicted by three judges, New Zealand TV reported Monday.


The verdicts were read by three judges sent to the island from New Zealand, who have sat in makeshift courts in the Pitcairn community hall in Adamstown since Sept. 30.

The men were tried for a string of 55 sex attacks dating back as long as 40 years on women and girls on the island, which has a permanent population of 47.

None of the victims still live on the island and all testified via a video link from Auckland.

Among those convicted was the island's mayor, Steve Christian, who claims to be a direct descendant of mutiny leader Fletcher Christian.

Jay Warren, the island's magistrate, was found innocent of indecent assault.

Sentences are expected to be handed out later this week, although the men could remain free until an appeal is heard in London questioning England's jurisdiction over the island. That isn't expected to begin until next year.

Is there any kind of rule of law on that island? Sounds like Lord of the Flies down there...

Jail terms in Pitcairn sex trial


SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- The mayor of Pitcairn Island was sentenced to three years imprisonment for the rape of young women on the remote and isolated home of descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers, British authorities in New Zealand said Friday.

Steve Christian, who claims to be a direct descendent of Bounty mutiny leader Fletcher Christian, and five other men from the island were convicted Monday of a string of rapes and sex attacks dating back 40 years. Christian was convicted of five rapes.

The sentences ranged from community service to six years in prison.

The sentences will not begin until next year, after appeals by their defense lawyers against Britain's jurisdiction over the island. If the men's sentences are upheld, they will serve time in a cell block they helped to build on the island.

Residents on the island, which has a permanent population of just 47, fear that prison terms will prevent the men from crewing a longboat that is Pitcairn's lifeline -- ferrying vital supplies like fuel and food to the island from passing ships that cannot dock along its rocky coastline.

Professor John Connell, an expert on the South Pacific from the University of Sydney, said earlier this week that if the men were incarcerated, they likely would be released temporarily when needed to crew the longboat.

"It would be punishment for the whole community" if they were imprisoned and not let out even temporarily, he said.

The defendants were convicted based on testimony from eight women who testified in trials via a video link from a television studio in the northern New Zealand city of Auckland.

The trials, lasting three weeks, were held in makeshift courtrooms set up in the island's community hall and presided over by three judges from New Zealand.

Steve Christian's son, Randy, was sentenced to six years for four rapes and five indecent assaults.

Len Brown, 78, was convicted of two rapes and sentenced to two years. His son, Dave, was convicted of nine indecent assaults and sentenced to community service.

Dennis Christian, 49, the postmaster and another descendant of Fletcher Christian, was convicted of one indecent assault and two sexual assaults he pleaded guilty to at trial. He also was sentenced to community service.

Terry Young was convicted of one rape and six indecent assaults. Judges imprisoned him for five years.

Jay Warren, the island's magistrate, was found innocent of indecent assault.

During Dave Brown's trial, prosecutor Christine Gordon said the man assaulted a girl in the island's Seventh-day Adventist Church and another during a fishing trip along the island's rugged coast.

"Young girls were available to him if and when he chose," New Zealand television station TVNZ reported Gordon as saying. The abuse went on for decades, prosecutors said.

Pitcairn, lying midway between Peru and New Zealand, has long fascinated the world for being the refuge of the men who mutinied aboard the Bounty and cast Capt. William Bligh adrift with his supporters in 1789.

The Pitcairn Islands are a group of five rocky volcanic outcroppings -- only the largest of which is inhabited -- with a combined area of just 46 square kilometers (18 square miles).

However - all the men are out pending their appeal to the High Court (British, presumably?) on the basis that, when the mutineers and their companions landed on Pitcairn and burned the Bounty, that all connection with British law was severed - so that the British common law has no relevance on the island.

Clearly, this community - not unlike some other communities which have isolated themselves, or been isolated - developed a culture where rape and sexual abuse was seen as normal.'

The women are divided - some have defended the men - saying that no harm was done, and this is their culture.

Others have greeted the news of the convictions with joy - saying that at last their horrendous abuse has been recognized as wrong.

The problem for the island is its viability as a community - with so many men facing prison - and only 47 adults on the island.

A supreme irony is that all the men built what is likely to become thier own prison.

They need some civilizing force. If they can't police themselves then the British or someone ought to.

hate to say it but if the community dies as a result of this, is that such a bad thing - doesn't look like the sort of place whose continued existence ought to be encouraged

Well - mebbe - always easy to say when it isn't YOUR community.

Sex case island picks woman mayor



Pitcairn Island has selected its first woman mayor in its 214-year history after its former mayor - a convicted rapist - was sacked last week.
The Pacific island's governing council chose ex-mayor Steve Christian's sister, Brenda, to fill the post.

Mr Christian was one of six island men convicted in October of rapes and sex attacks over a span of 40 years.

Ms Christian will lead the 47-member island community until a formal election can be held on 15 December.

She was selected unanimously by the seven-member governing council of the tiny British colony.


She was previously the island's police officer.

Appeal

Mr Christian was sacked by the British authorities after he refused to resign.

He was convicted of five rapes and sentenced to three years in prison.

His son Randy, who was also convicted of sex crimes, was sacked from his post as chairman of a key island committee.

The six men convicted of the crimes were handed sentences ranging from jail to community service.

They will not begin their sentences until next year at the earliest, as defence lawyers mount an appeal against British jurisdiction over the island.

If the sentences are upheld, the men will serve them in a cell block they helped build on the island.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3991523.stm

Must say I agree with roobarb, although I find it hard to come up with a clear notion of what's absolutely right here. Still, if there's a society based on the premise that it's OK for the strong to victimize the weak, it's wrong.

Of course, these societies exist elsewhere; this one happens to be simple to understand. Like tiny organisms under a microscope.

Er - yes - exactly.

Six Pitcairn Island men convicted last year of rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault in one of the most unusual trials in British legal history began their appeal process Monday in the Pitcairn Supreme Court.
The six men, four of whom face jail time and two who received hundreds of hours of community service, are appealing their convictions for sex with minors, arguing that underage sex has been a part of the island's heritage since its settlement by the eighteenth-century mutineers from the HMS Bounty mutineers.
All of the convictions have been postponed until challenges by the convicted men's lawyers to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom over the tiny Pacific island have been heard.

Source

I believe the world has caught up with the island. Such behavior should no longer be tolerated, no matter the origin.