SYDNEY – Six of the seven Pitcairn Island men charged with raping and indecently assaulting girls as young as 12 were found guilty by a British court on the remote South Pacific island, a British official said yesterday.
The men, descendants of 18th century Bounty mutineers, had argued that under-age sex was a tradition dating back to 1790 when mutineers arrived on the island with their Tahitian women. But their victims, now adults who testified via video from New Zealand, said they were treated as “sex things” as girls and raped at will under banyan trees or in garden sheds on Pitcairn.”The convictions today send a clear message that the abuse of children is not acceptable in any culture anywhere, even on Pitcairn Island,” British police officer Ron Vinson said in a TV New Zealand report from the remote island.The men will be sentenced later this week but will not be sent to jail until 2005 at the earliest because of legal wrangling over whether Britain has jurisdiction over the island.”Six of the seven have been found guilty,” said British High Commission spokesman Bryan Nicolson in Wellington, New Zealand.”Steve Christian, the mayor, has been found guilty of five rapes and a number of sexual assaults,” Nicolson told Reuters.Christian, 53, is a descendant of Fletcher Christian, who led the Bounty mutiny in 1789.Christian was the “leader of the pack” on the island and believed he had a right to have sex with young girls, the prosecution told the court during the trial.His 30-year-old son Randy Christian was found guilty of four rapes and five indecent assaults, said TV New Zealand.- Nampa-ReutersBut their victims, now adults who testified via video from New Zealand, said they were treated as “sex things” as girls and raped at will under banyan trees or in garden sheds on Pitcairn.”The convictions today send a clear message that the abuse of children is not acceptable in any culture anywhere, even on Pitcairn Island,” British police officer Ron Vinson said in a TV New Zealand report from the remote island.The men will be sentenced later this week but will not be sent to jail until 2005 at the earliest because of legal wrangling over whether Britain has jurisdiction over the island.”Six of the seven have been found guilty,” said British High Commission spokesman Bryan Nicolson in Wellington, New Zealand.”Steve Christian, the mayor, has been found guilty of five rapes and a number of sexual assaults,” Nicolson told Reuters.Christian, 53, is a descendant of Fletcher Christian, who led the Bounty mutiny in 1789.Christian was the “leader of the pack” on the island and believed he had a right to have sex with young girls, the prosecution told the court during the trial.His 30-year-old son Randy Christian was found guilty of four rapes and five indecent assaults, said TV New Zealand.- Nampa-Reuters
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