Rapist mayor's sister takes top Pitcairn post

Pitcairn Island has picked the sister of convicted rapist Steve Christian to be its first woman mayor in its 214-year history, it was reported today.

The seven-member governing council on the remote Pacific island, first settled by mutineers from HMS Bounty, unanimously chose Christian's sister Brenda, the island's former police officer, to fill the post until a formal election was held on December 15, British High Commission spokesman Bryan Nicolson said.