Six found guilty in Pitcairn sex offences trial (original) (raw)

Six descendants of the original mutineers on the Bounty were found guilty yesterday of 32 sexual assault offences in one of the last and remotest outposts of the British empire.

The month-long trial, conducted under British and Pitcairn flags in the island's whitewashed courtroom, was only sporadically attended by the islanders, many of whom regarded it from the outset as an unwelcome imposition.

"The outcome comes as no surprise to us," one of them, Mike Warren, wrote in an email yesterday.

"We believe this whole thing was a setup from the beginning, and no matter how well the defence argued the case they were fighting a losing battle."

The six all claim descent from the men who settled on Pitcairn, which lies 4,000 miles east of New Zealand and 4,000 west of South America, after the infamous 1789 mutiny.

The mayor, Steve Christian, 50, and his son Randy, 28, sweated profusely in the subtropical heat as they were found guilty on 14 counts of rape and indecent assault.

Steve Christian was found guilty of five rapes on girls as young as 11, Randy of four rapes and five indecent assaults.

Steve Christian's brother-in-law Dave Brown, 46, entered the court with laughter but left in tears after he was found guilty on six charges of indecent assault, in addition to three indecency charges to which he had already pleaded guilty.

Steve Christian's father-in-law Len Brown, 78, was found guilty of two rapes dating back to the 1960s, and Terry Young and Dennis Christian were found guilty of 10 rapes and indecent assaults.

In all, 32 of the 55 charges brought to trial received guilty verdicts. Only the island magistrate Jay Warren was cleared of all charges.

Kari Young, a Norwegian-born Pitcairner currently living in New Zealand, said they had expected the verdicts but were still disappointed.

"I think it's quite a blow to actually have the rubber-stamp of child-molester," she told the Guardian. She insisted that the allegations of rape and indecent assault appeared different to Pitcairn islanders.

"Nobody believes that these girls were raped time and time again. There was a sex culture on the island, but nobody molested girls."

Robert Vinson, the Kent police officer who led the investigation, disagreed. "These judgments today have sent a clear message that the abuse of children is not acceptable in any culture anywhere, and Pitcairn Island is no exception," he said outside the court.

The trial has revealed almost as much about the tense divisions in the three extended families who make up most of Pitcairn's population of 47.

Several of them who were expected to give evidence withdrew their statements and gave an informal press conference when journalists arrived on the island to say that there was nothing wrong with Pitcairn's culture of under-age sex.

The men convicted yesterday are due to be sentenced on Thursday, but the proceedings will remain subject to appeal.

Legal argument about the status of the trial may continue well into next year. Two separate cases will argue that Pitcairners never properly incorporated British laws into their own legal codes.

None of the victims of abuse still live on the island; they testified by video link from the northern New Zealand city of Auckland.

A police officer who told the eight women of the verdicts said they had welcomed the outcome.

"They were all extremely relieved - as if a lifetime of emotional turmoil has been concluded," PC Karen Vaughan told TVNZ.

"Some were overwhelmed, but on the whole they feel justice has been done."