Island life 'changed forever' after sex crimes trial

As six Pitcairn men convicted of sex crimes await sentencing, observers say life on the remote Pacific outpost will never be the same again.

They say the old culture of sex abuse has gone and the island will survive - but with a new notoriety.

Despite claims from Pitcairn’s population of just 47 – many of them descendants of the 18th century HMS Bounty mutineers – that the prosecutions were a British plot to drive them off the island, analysts say their community should be able to continue.

“My own guess is that the place will survive, it’ll have new notoriety,” said Bill Hodge, an associate law professor at Auckland University.

Islanders fear that if the men, convicted yesterday of a string of rapes and sex attacks dating back 40 years, are jailed, they will not be able to keep the island’s longboat lifeline working.

Pitcairn, a British territory, can only survive by having longboats carry fuel, food and tourists between supply ships and shore.

Former islander Reeve Cooze told New Zealand’s Radio National that the need for able-bodied men on the longboats means that if the convicted men – who account for half of Pitcairn’s adult males – are imprisoned “they will have to be let out to carry out their duties".

Hodge said “practical things” like whether the men are allowed out of prison to work in the community during the day and return to prison at night must now be addressed by British authorities.

Cooze said life would likely go on much as before on the island. He believes that while there might be some animosity toward the convicted men, “there won’t be much. They can’t afford to do that on the island.”

Meanwhile, prosecutor Simon Moore said the more than 50 charges filed against the men were the “tip of an iceberg” of sexual offences on the island.

The Auckland lawyer said the trials addressed about a third of the offences police learned about as they investigated allegations of rape and indecent assault from up to 30 women. Only eight of the women agreed to testify – all via video link from Auckland.

Six more Pitcairn men who no longer live on the island still face trial for alleged sexual offences uncovered by the police investigation. Those trials, to be held in Auckland, are expected to start early next year.

Pitcairn Island resident Mike Warren said he believes there’s a conspiracy against the island by Britain.

“We believe this whole thing was a setup from the beginning, and no matter how well the defence argued the case, they were fighting a losing battle,” he said.

The trial outcomes have “brought together the majority in the community. We are supporting, upholding and encouraging each other. After (the) verdicts we are even more united together,” he said.

One academic, University of Sydney Professor John Connell, said he believed the time will come when Pitcairn’s population decides it can no longer survive the island’s isolation.

He said regardless of what sentences are imposed on the six men, “it seems inevitable at some point people are going to say, OK, we’re not going to stay here.”