[Pitcairn] Island Is Short of Paradise

Los Angeles Times ^ | 10/18/04 | Richard C. Paddock

[conservative in nyc]

ex-crime trials threaten to devastate the isolated colony on Pitcairn, as British authorities insist the 'island way' is criminal.

Far from reach of law

SYDNEY, Australia — When Fletcher Christian and his crew of Bounty mutineers landed 214 years ago on tiny Pitcairn Island, its remote location halfway between New Zealand and Peru made it the perfect place to hide. Its isolation has protected the little colony's customs — some quaint and some sinister — ever since.

Now the Pitcairn way of life is under challenge by a modern world that believes basic legal standards, including laws against rape, sex with underage girls and child molestation, should be enforced in even the most inaccessible places on Earth.

The British government, which has jurisdiction over Pitcairn, contends that a culture of rape and sexual abuse has long permeated the South Pacific island, with some of the community's most influential leaders routinely preying on young girls.

Prosecutors have charged seven men — nearly half the colony's adult male population — with 55 counts of rape, indecent assault and sexual abuse of girls as young as 5. The cases date from 1964 to 1998.

Among the accused are the mayor, the postmaster and a former magistrate. At least three of the seven are direct descendants of Christian, the master's mate who led the Bounty mutiny and brought the crew to Pitcairn to avoid the law.

"Everyone thinks Pitcairn is a paradise," testified one woman who said she was raped repeatedly as a girl, "but it was sheer hell when I was growing up there."

Some wonder if the colony, with only 47 permanent residents, can survive the turmoil and humiliation of sex crime trials.

[conservative in nyc]

An interesting look on what the descendants of Fletcher Christian have been accused of on one of the most remote islands in the world. If the men are convicted, it may be the end of the inhabitation of the island, one of the last remaining British dependencies in Occeania.

[kb2614]

It's just another 'alternative' lifestyle. The British government has no right to judge.



(sarcasm off)

[Route66]

This is not a society. It's a private den of perversion. It sounds like it should have come to an end a long time ago.

[conservative in nyc]

One of the defendants' more novel arguments is that because the Bounty descendants renounced their British citizenship, British justice shouldn't apply. I guess that's sort of a way of saying the British government has no right to judge because Pitcairn is different.

[SpaceBar]

Pitcairn Island is an example of a true democracy. You get 55 men and 39 women together and have a vote on who to rape.

[kezekiel]

The only thing missing from making it a complete hell for women is for one guy to convert to Islam. Then he could declare jihad on the other males, kill them all, then marry all the women and do whatever he wanted.

[beaversmom]

Here's a little bit of interesting history about the descendants of Christian:

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/pitcairn.html

Emigration to Norfolk Island

By 1855, the population had grown to nearly 200, and the tiny island, with only 88 acres of flat land, could no longer sustain its people. As a result, Queen Victoria bequeathed them Norfolk Island, a former penal colony more than 3,700 miles to the west.

On May 3, 1856, the entire population of 194 people reluctantly abandoned Pitcairn. Within 18 months, however, seventeen of the immigrants returned to Pitcairn, followed by another four families in 1864. Contemporary Norfolk has approximately 1000 Bounty descendants—about half its population—and celebrates Bounty Day (the day the Pitcairners first arrived) on June 8.

[conservative in nyc]

That kind of already happened (without Islam or any religion) shortly after settlement. The article says the island was founded in large part because the mutineers wanted to keep their Tahitian girlfriends, but were told they could not. So they took over the Bounty with a handful of Polynesian men, and took the women to Pitcairn. Each British male had a Tahitian wife, and the 6 Polynesian men shared 3 women. After one of the wives died, the mutineer widower took one of the 3 women "married" to the Polynesians and all heck broke loose. Most of the men killed each other. When Pitcairn was found by the outside world, there was only one adult male left with seven adult women. They had found Christianity, and things were a bit more stable.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

there was only one adult male left with seven adult women

So it was once a paradise.