Appeals
The six convicts began their appeal in the Supreme Court, in Papakura, New Zealand, on 18 April 2005. Defence lawyers argued that as Pitcairn's colonial rulers had never enforced British law, the six men convicted of sex crimes could not have known that their acts were illegal — a claim rejected as "extraordinary" by public prosecutor Simon Moore. If true, he said, Pitcairn had been "a zone of criminal immunity" — an enclave where serious crimes could be committed with impunity.
The proceedings were relayed live to the Adamstown courthouse, on Pitcairn, by a video linkup. About twenty locals, including the accused, watched the hearing.
Crown prosecutors produced numerous old documents to refute the defence that British law had never been enforced on Pitcairn, or that the Pitcairners had never known that they were subject to it. According to the documents, the islanders had, over a period of many years, sought British advice and intervention in cases related to adultery, abortion, kleptomania, attempted murder (including a 1936 case in which a husband and wife both tried to kill each other), and even the theft of women's underwear. Crown Prosecutor Simon Mount said the charges had been referred to British authorities because they were too serious to be dealt with locally and proved that Pitcairners were fully aware of British law and of its applicability to them.
Betty Christian, the Island Secretary, broke ranks with many of her fellow Pitcairners, testifying at the Pitcairn Supreme Court hearing in Papakura that the islanders were indeed aware that they were British subjects and that British law was applicable to them. She also flatly contradicted the defence that sexual activity at a young age was considered "normal" on Pitcairn, saying that Pitcairn's values were no different from those of any other modern society.
On 24 May 2005, the Auckland court rejected the appeal of the six convicted men. It carried over their bail until their further appeal could be heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, in 2006.
Former Pitcairn resident Shawn Brent Christian, 29, then living in Australia, announced a legal challenge to the validity of New Zealand lawyers’ and judges’ carrying out a trial in a British colony on 27 November 2005. "They are saying it should have been English judges and English lawyers doing the trial," said New Zealand lawyer Fletcher Pilditch. Christian appeared to have the support of others awaiting trial. Christian, whose alleged offences (three rapes) are said to have happened between 1994 and 1996, is the younger son of former Mayor Steve Christian.
A further appeal brought by the Public Defender was heard by the Court of Appeal on 31 January 2006. The basis of the appeal was the validity of the laws applied to the accused, with the defence arguing that British law had not been ratified on Pitcairn. "We are arguing whether the English legal system applies to these people. That is it in a nutshell," defence lawyer Allan Roberts said.
The Pitcairn Court of Appeal dismissed this claim. Randall Christian's appeal against indecent assault of a girl aged under 13 was upheld, but that decision did not affect his sentence of six years on other charges. The men appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.
The Privy Council terminated the appeal abruptly in July 2006, saying that the argument that Pitcairn has always been self-governing was unrealistic. The final appeals for all six men failed on 30 October 2006.
Read more about this topic: Pitcairn Sexual Assault Trial Of 2004
Famous quotes containing the word appeals:
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—Harry Levin (b. 1912)
“The private citizen, beset by partisan appeals for the loan of his Public Opinion, will soon see, perhaps, that these appeals are not a compliment to his intelligence, but an imposition on his good nature and an insult to his sense of evidence.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)