Six men were convicted of a string of sex attacks on the remote Pacific island of Pitcairn, British authorities said yesterday, following trials that exposed a culture of sexual abuse on the tiny home of descendants of the 18th-century Bounty mutineers.
Among those convicted was Pitcairn Island Mayor Steve Christian, who claims to be a direct descendant of mutiny leader Fletcher Christian. He was cleared of four indecent assaults and one rape but convicted of five other rapes, Bryan Nicolson of the British High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand, said.
The verdicts were read out by judges sent to the island from New Zealand who sat in makeshift courts in the Pitcairn community hall for the trials, which started on Sept. 30. Sentences were expected to be announced later this week.
The verdicts against Christian and six other men were delivered on Sunday in Pitcairn.
The men were tried for a string of 51 sex attacks dating back 40 years on women and girls on the island, which has a permanent population of just 47.
During the trials, prosecutors had painted a picture of a male-dominated society in which underage sex was commonplace.
Steve Christian's son, Randy Christian, was convicted of four rapes and five indecent assaults but cleared of one rape and two indecent assaults.
Another man, Len Brown, 78, was convicted of two rapes. His son, Dave Brown, was convicted of nine indecent assaults and cleared of four indecent assaults and two charges of gross indecency.
Dennis Christian was convicted of one indecent assault and two sexual assaults he pleaded guilty to at trial.
Terry Young was convicted of one rape and six indecent assaults but cleared of one indecent assault.
Jay Warren, the island's magistrate, was found innocent of indecent assault.
His wife, Carol Warren, reacted angrily despite her husband being cleared.
"His name's been dragged through the mud," she told New Zealand television station TVNZ. "The whole world now sees him as a child molester. My god, if they only knew him."
Before the trials even started, women living on the island came out in defense of their men, saying that while underage sex did happen, it was consensual.
None of the victims of abuse still live on the island, and they all testified via video link from the New Zealand city of Auckland.
A New Zealand police officer who told eight women who testified about the verdicts said they welcomed the outcome.
"They were all extremely relieved -- as if a lifetime of emotional turmoil has been concluded," policewoman Karen Vaughan told TVNZ.
"Some were overwhelmed but on the whole they feel justice has been done," she said.
The convicted men could be sentenced to prison time in the island's newly built cell block. But they will continue to be free pending the outcome of an appeal by defense lawyers against Bri-tain's jurisdiction over the tiny island. That case is expected to be heard next year in New Zealand.
Nicolson urged islanders to now put the process behind them.
"Feelings on the island understandably will be mixed but [the verdicts are] a very important step in bringing a conclusion to these matters, so that Pitcairn can look to the future," he said.
Islanders have warned that if the men are incarcerated, they likely will no longer be able to crew a long boat that serves as the island's life line -- transporting freight and passengers to and from passing ships that cannot dock anywhere along the rocky shore.
During one of the trials, prosecutor Christine Gordon said Dave Brown assaulted one girl in the island's Seventh Day Adventist church and another during a fishing trip along the island's rugged coast.
"Young girls were available to him if and when he chose," TVNZ reported Gordon as saying.
The abuse went on for decades, prosecutors said. Police launched an investigation after one victim told a visiting British policewoman about the abuse in 1999.
The Pitcairn Islands are a group of five rocky volcanic outcrops in the Pacific Ocean midway between New Zealand and Peru.
British policeman on Pitcairn Rod Vinson told TVNZ the verdicts "send a clear message that the abuse of children is not acceptable in any culture, anywhere -- and Pitcairn Island is no exception."
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