'Population explosion' on Pitcairn with second baby's birth

Pitcairn Island, the remote Pacific community of descendants of HMS Bounty mutineers, has seen its population nudge closer to 50 after the birth of just the second baby in over 18 years.

The island is having “something of a population explosion” after a baby boy was born to an island couple in the New Zealand city of Auckland on March 22, the Pitcairn Island Study Centre said.

The boy, Ryan Randall Christian, a ninth generation direct descendant of Bounty mutiny leader Fletcher Christian, is the child of islanders Nadine and Randy Christian.

His father is one of six islanders who were given prison sentences last year for raping young girls.

Ryan’s sister, Emily Rose Christian, was born on Pitcairn just 17 months ago - the island’s first baby in 17 years, centre director Herb Ford said.

Forty-seven people currently live on Pitcairn Island, where the population peaked at 233 in the 1930s.

The island grabbed world attention last year when seven island men were tried for sexual abuse charges against young girls, with some offences dating back 40 years.

Six of the men were found guilty and sentenced to periods of imprisonment or community service.

Among those convicted was Randy Christian, who was found guilty of four rapes and other sexual assaults and sentenced to six years in prison.

The six men will challenge the laws used to convict them in the Pitcairn Supreme Court on April 18.

They have already appealed against Britain’s jurisdiction over the island, arguing it has never controlled Pitcairn and therefore, its legal system does not apply.

No date has been set for that appeals hearing.

Pitcairn, a tiny group of four islands in the Pacific Ocean midway between Peru and New Zealand, has long fascinated the world for being the refuge of men who mutinied aboard the Bounty in 1789.

They later settled on Pitcairn along with Tahitian brides.