Pitcairn Sexual Assault Trial of 2004 - Local Reaction

Local Reaction

Pitcairn's 47 inhabitants, almost all of whom are interrelated, were bitterly divided by the charging of most of the adult male population. Many Pitcairn Island men blamed the British police for persuading the women involved to press charges. Some of the women agreed. Under what sources close to the case said was pressure from their families, several women withdrew the charges they had laid. On 28 September 2004, Olive Christian, wife of the accused Mayor, daughter of Len Brown and mother of Randy Christian, both of whom were also among those accused, called a meeting of thirteen of the island's women, representing three generations at her home, Big Fence, to "defend" the island's menfolk. Claiming that underage sex had been accepted as a Polynesian tradition since the settlement of the island in 1790, Olive Christian said of her girlhood, "We all thought sex was like food on the table." Christian’s two daughters also said that they had both been sexually active from the age of 12, with one of them claiming that she started having sex at 13, "and I felt hot shit about it, too". They and other women present at the meeting, who endorsed their view that underage sex was normal on Pitcairn, stated emphatically that all of the alleged rape victims had been willing participants. Charlene Warren, who withdrew charges against a Pitcairn man, claimed that detectives had offered her money to testify; when pressed, she clarified that the money referred to statutory "compensation for victims of crime." Some women came up with a conspiracy theory that the trial was part of "a British plot to jail the able-bodied men and 'close' the island." "They've picked on all the viable young men, the ones who are the backbone of this place," said one, Meralda Warren.

Not all women on the island were vocal defenders. Some present at the Big Fence meeting sat "silent and appeared ill at ease," giving reporters the impression that they did not hold the same views.

The forty-five islanders were ordered to surrender their twenty or so guns, both in view of emotions that were running high and to avoid hunting accidents "because the island's population will swell by about 25 during the trial."

Many of the islanders boycotted the trial. "It's better for me not to know who's charged with what, so that I can still look them in the face as mates," one islander said. "We still have to work together to keep this place going." While many islanders remain fearful that the outcome of the trial could sound the death-knell of the tiny state, others expressed optimism that it could mark a new beginning for Pitcairn as people previously excluded from the power structure would find themselves needed and appreciated for their skills and contributions in a new way.

Many Pitcairners were left feeling sorry for themselves, with many, including Mike Warren, saying that the whole trial was a "setup" from the start. Former Pitcairn resident Reeve Cooze expressed the sentiments of many of the islanders on Radio New Zealand when he declared, "The Pitcairn people have been bullied."