Posted on 10/25/2004 4:22:59 PM PDT by SJackson
THE rapists and child molesters of Pitcairn Island were laughing and joking as they walked to the island's courthouse yesterday.
But they had nothing to say on the way out. Six Pitcairn men were found guilty of committing shocking child sex crimes over the past 40 years, including incest, rape and indecent assault against girls as young as seven. One man was acquitted.
Mayor Steve Christian, described by prosecutors as "the leader of the pack", was found guilty of five rapes of girls as young as 11, and acquitted of four indecent assaults and one rape.
His son Randy, chairman of the internal works committee, was found guilty of four rapes, including one gang rape of a 10-year-old, and five indecent assaults.
He was not found guilty of three indecent assaults and one rape.
Steve's brother-in-law, Dave "The Mouth" Brown, was guilty of six indecent assaults against girls as young as 12, and acquitted of six counts of indecent assault and gross indecency.
On the way into court, Brown waved toilet paper in the air and laughed aloud. When he left the court, he broke down in tears.
Dave's father Len Brown -- at 78 the oldest defendant -- was found guilty of twice raping a girl as young as 15.
Terry Young, 46, was guilty of one rape and six indecent assaults against girls as young as seven. One of the guilty men, Dennis Christian, had admitted three sexual assaults before his trial began.
Pitcairn's former magistrate, Jay Warren, was acquitted of the only charge he faced -- indecently assaulting a 12-year-old girl when he was 27 in 1983.
The men had argued that under-age sex was a tradition dating back to 1790 when mutineers from the Bounty arrived on the island with their Tahitian women.
Some Pitcairn women said the same, including the mayor's wife, who described sex as being like "food on the table".
But their victims, now adults who testified via video from New Zealand, said they were treated as "sex things".
Girls were raped at will under banyan trees or in garden sheds on Pitcairn, the court was told by the women.
The verdicts are the culmination of almost a decade of investigation by British police into the dark sexual culture of this tiny rock, the world's most remote inhabited island and Britain's last colonial possession in the Pacific.
Chief investigating officer, Robert Vinson, of Kent Constabulary, was pleased with the result.
"It has been a very important day for Pitcairn Island," he said.
"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."
Judges found 32 charges proved and 17 not proved beyond reasonable doubt, but said they believed that all seven former Pitcairn women who gave video-link evidence were honest in their claims of horrific abuse.
The men will be sentenced on Friday.
But neither conviction nor sentence will be formally entered against the men until next year, after the hearing of defence arguments that the trials were invalid.
Britain has never established legal jurisdiction over Pitcairn, defence lawyers will argue next year before the Privy Council in London, the highest appeal court for UK overseas territories.
Defence barristers will also tell the Pitcairn Island Supreme Court, in a special sitting in Auckland, that Britain failed to inform Pitcairners they were subject to British law. Only 47 people live on Pitcairn, a 4.2 sq km lump of rock, halfway between New Zealand and Peru.
It was settled in 1790 by Fletcher Christian and his band of rebel British sailors after they mutinied aboard the Royal Navy ship Bounty.
New Zealand policewoman Karen Vaughan said the seven complainants were all "extremely relieved, as if a lifetime of emotional turmoil had been concluded".
In that case, no harm, no foul. Wonder what kind of laws the Island has that give this a pass?
Someone remind me of the background of the Brown heritage, I'm to lazy to look it up.
I think I know where Bill Clinton is taking his next vacation.
Ship's gardener.
"I'll live to see you - all of you - hanging from the highest yardarm
in the British fleet!"
I've worked Pitcairn a couple of times on the (ham) radio. I'll have to back through my cards to see if I have any of the involved.
The couple articles I've seen don't mention sentencing, but I'd have no problem with that.
I see multiple Phd dissertations here.
Would I be correct in assuming that Mayor Christian is a descendent of Mr. Christian of "Mutiny on the Bounty" fame? Sounds as though a colony of perverts, the like of which humanity would prefer to forget, has arisen here.
That "Who's Who on Pitcairn" list just screams inbreeding to me.
The men had argued that under-age sex was a tradition dating back to 1790
Guess they forgot that rape was a criminal offense dating back to Biblical times.
How incredibly judgmental of them! Haven't they heard there are no absolute values! How dare they impose their Eurocentric values on these (sorta) indigenous peoples!
etc., etc., etc.
And...
Girls were raped at will under banyan trees or in garden sheds on Pitcairn, the court was told by the women.
Clever wordsmithery here?
Banyan trees are "well-rooted".
Sounds like their gene pool has hit a brick wall. Jerry Springer could do a live remote from that island.
In California, they probaly would have walked.
I think all the "Christians", surname, on the island are descendants.
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