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October 26, 2004
5 convicted of rapes on island founded by Bounty mutineers
BY NEIL TWEEDIE -- suntimes.com
PITCAIRN ISLAND -- The mayor of the Pacific Ocean island of Pitcairn and his son were among five men found guilty Monday of a series of rapes and sexual assaults against girls on the island stretching back over four decades.
Steve Christian, 53, a descendant of the famed HMS Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian, presided over a regime of child abuse that remained unchecked by the British authorities until police became involved in the late 1990s.
He was found guilty of five rapes of two girls. His son Randy, the chairman of the island's main council committee, was found guilty of four. In addition to the five men found guilty, Dennis Christian, the postmaster, had already admitted three indecent assaults, while a seventh man, Jay Warren, a former magistrate, was acquitted of indecent assault.
It is believed that the crimes reflected a culture of abuse that stretched back at least three generations but more likely to the formation of the community by fugitives from the Bounty in 1790.
Testimony told how Christian displayed a "callous and cavalier" attitude to his victims, treating girls like a "harem" and reserving for himself the right to "break in" virgins.
The defense argued that the inhabitants of Pitcairn, Britain's last Pacific possession, were not made sufficiently aware that they were governed by English law. Daily Telegraph
Posted by Nealus at October 26, 2004 11:53 AM
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