'Sins of a few' trouble Pitcairn Island

BBC ^ | June 14, 2003 | Michael Brooke

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Is it just me, or is this extremely rambling, uninformative, and amateurishly written?

[Rudder]

Well, it sure didn't provide the obligatory who, what and why.

[B-bone]

It's not you. "...extremely rambling, uninformative, and amateurishly written..." is too kind.

[csvset]

A ship has set sail for Pitcairn island, the remote South Pacific outcrop settled by the Bounty mutineers, on a journey likely to devastate its tiny community.

On board the Braveheart for the voyage from French Polynesia is Simon Moore, Pitcairn's public prosecutor, who is expected to lay serious sex charges against a number of the island's 44 inhabitants.

Others among a team of 12 on the ship are Paul Dacre, an Auckland barrister appointed as public defender, and two Ministry of Defence policemen from London. Pitcairn is a British territory.

Islanders, many of whom are descended from the mutineers, have given warning that a trial could lead to Pitcairn being permanently abandoned for the first time since it was settled in 1790.

The charges are understood to include allegations of the rape of girls as young as seven, and the indecent assault of a girl aged three. They follow a three-year investigation by Kent police, assisted by officers from New Zealand.

A police officer from Kent was on a training assignment on the island when the allegations came to light.

The situation is complicated because Pitcairn, which measures only two miles by one and lies almost midway between New Zealand and Peru, has nowhere suitable for holding a modern trial. In December the New Zealand parliament passed a law at the British Government's request enabling the case to be heard in Auckland.

Plans are being made to set up video-conferencing facilities so that witnesses can give evidence without leaving the island.

There are only about eight men on Pitcairn and they are needed to haul longboats manually from the visiting ships on which islanders rely for an income.

Another 200 or so Pitcairners live in New Zealand and charges are likely to be laid against some of them. Some of the alleged victims also live in New Zealand.

Steve Christian, the island's mayor, one of whose forebears was Fletcher Christian, the Bounty mutineer, has objected to the case being heard in New Zealand, saying the island community would not survive it.

Mr Dacre is likely to challenge the proceedings, claiming that those to be charged have suffered from "abuse of process". The number of allegations is said to have "snowballed" as their inquiry progressed, leading to suspicions that widespread sexual abuse of minors had been taking place among some of the islanders over several years.

The final decision on where and when the trial will go ahead rests with the Governor of Pitcairn, Richard Fell, who is also the British High Commissioner in Wellington. It could be another year before proceedings begin.

[jackbill]

Is it just me, or is this extremely rambling, uninformative, and amateurishly written?

Here's a clue: BBC. Government media.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

That's a much better piece.

Man, the BBC has taken a nosedive lately.

[DPB101]

Good info here:

Pitcairn Island Web Site

[Shooter 2.5]

I'm always interested in what happens with this island because I read "Mutiny on the Bounty" and "Pitcairn's Island" as a kid.

I read about half of this before I started to wonder what his point was.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Old Professer]

Now, several island-based men have been charged with sexual offences, some involving children.

"We've got no money, no brains, no people, no nothing," says an over-modest Betty Christian, among the most articulate of Pitcairn's womenfolk.

Must be overly concerned about the available jury pool.

[LibKill]

Sex crimes against children must be punished, preferably by burning at the stake.

'Cultural Sensitivity' be damned.

[esopman]

Not to mention...the gene pool.

Time to clean that place up. Sexual offenses against children are worthy of a small caliber solution.

Hollywood will have a field day with this. The 'Pitcairn Pederasts,' 'The Buggers of Bounty Bay,'....on second thought, just move the folks somewhere civilized and nuke the place...

[Castlebar]

How about a great big, "Duh! No Sh*t!"

Pitcarin Island is difficult to reach and prohibitively expensive for the British Empire to reach and prosecute criminal rapists? Who'd a'thunk?

Pitcarin Island was deliberately settled because it was difficult to reach and prohibitively expensive for the British Empire to reach and prosecute criminal rapists. The Bounty Mutineer faction (it was no more than a fraction of the minority of the crew that mutinied) kidnapped Tahitian sex slaves and brought them to the nearly-impossible-to-find island hideout.

[Consort]

...Pitcairn Island Governor's Flag.

[monkey]

It reads like a bunch of loosely-affiliated declarative sentences arranged in a random order.

[Calvin Locke]

You must have missed Language is mix of 18th century English and Polynesian Alcohol is still technically banned in the run-on style...

"Depends on how you define technically".

[Nik Naym]

The things I learn from FR!

Thanks for the link. Just to prove I have no life I spent the better part of an hour on a virtual tour of Pitcairn and her inhabitants. Quite interesting reading. Imagine living on an island no bigger than 1X2 miles, (give or take) thousands of miles from anywhere!

Most notable picture on the site: One of the pitcairners wearing a "perot 92" t-shirt!

Nik

[DPB101]

Just to prove I have no life I spent the better part of an hour on a virtual tour of Pitcairn and her inhabitants . . .

LOL...I may have you beat. Not only did I spend at least an hour there, I tested neighboring Norfork island email service.

They will bounce back a reply from this address:

test@ni.net.nf