Mayor raped me, woman tells Pitcairn sex abuse trial

A STRING of sex abuse trials opened yesterday on Pitcairn Island, the isolated British territory in the Pacific that is home to descendants of the 18th-century Bounty mutineers.

The first alleged victim said she was raped as a young girl by the island’s mayor.

The unprecedented trials of seven men - more than half the adult male population - on a total of 55 charges are being staged in the island’s community hall, which has been converted into courts staffed by judges and lawyers from New Zealand but operating under British law.

Some of the island’s 47 permanent residents accuse Britain of using the case, involving abuse allegations dating back up to 40 years, to depopulate Pitcairn. British authorities have denied that and said they are pumping millions of dollars into the island to improve life there.

There are only 12 adult men among the population, and those who are young and fit enough - including some of the defendants - have to crew a longboat that is the only way to get essential supplies from passing ships onto the island, which has no port, airstrip or paved roads.

Convictions for the seven men, who are to be tried separately in two court rooms, could make it virtually impossible to man the boat, islanders claim.

Prosecutors called their highest profile defendant first - the island’s mayor, Steve Christian - who faces six charges of rape and four of indecent assault on four women from 1964-75.

Public prosecutor Simon Moore said 53-year-old Christian committed the offences when he was aged between 13 and 24 years.

In testimony given via a video link between the island and the northern New Zealand city of Auckland, more than 3,100 miles away, the first prosecution witness described how as a young girl of 11 or 12 years she was taunted on the island for being a “half-caste” and had been targeted and raped by Steve Christian on four occasions.

During the first attack, she said she was being held down by the defendant and two other men.

The cases of two other men are expected to open today. Len Brown faces two charges of raping one woman, and his son Dave faces 15 charges relating to five women.

The arrival of three judges, prosecutors, defence attorneys and media has almost doubled Pitcairn’s population.