Pitcairn Sexual Assault Trial of 2004 - The Defendants

The Defendants

The defendants who lived on the island were:

• Stevens Raymond Christian, or Steve Christian (born January 1951), Mayor since 1999. He was charged with a total of six rapes and four indecent assaults committed between 1964 and 1975. He pleaded not guilty to all charges of rape and sexual abuse, but admitted to two sexual encounters, which he said were consensual, with underage females. Christian was convicted of five rapes and cleared of four indecent assaults and one rape. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Still protesting his innocence and refusing to resign, he was dismissed from office on 30 October 2004 by the Governor, Richard Fell.
• Randy Christian (born March 1974) son of Steve Christian, was Chairman of the powerful Internal Committee, which effectively made him his father's deputy. He faced five charges of rape and seven of indecent assault against four women between 1988 and 1999. He was also accused of targeting one girl from the age of five or seven, abusing her repeatedly over the next decade. He admitted to having under-age sex with a girl of 11 or 12. He was convicted of four rapes (against the same girl from the age of 10) and five indecent assault charges, but cleared of one rape and two indecent assaults. His six-year prison sentence was the most severe ever handed down on Pitcairn. Governor Fell dismissed him from the chairmanship of the Internal Committee on 30 October 2004 following his refusal to resign.
• Len Carlyle Brown (born March 1926) Steve Christian's father-in-law, was convicted of two rapes. Both were committed in a watermelon patch. Through his lawyer, Allan Roberts, Brown refused to apologize. To do so would be "fraudulent," Roberts said. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, but on account of his age, he was allowed to apply for home detention instead.
• Dave Brown, or Len Calvin Davis Brown (born October 1954) son of Len Brown. pleaded guilty on 8 October 2004 to two charges of indecent assault against a 14-year-old girl and one charge of molesting a 15-year-old girl. He continued to deny 12 other charges, including one of forcing a 5-year-old girl to give him oral sex. Brown was found guilty of nine indecent assaults against three girls, but was cleared of four charges of indecent assault and two of gross indecency. Earlier, he had told New Zealand journalist Kathy Marks that he hated reporters and was sick of their "lies." After the verdict, however, his lawyer, Charles Cato, told the court that Brown "regretted any distress caused." He was sentenced to 400 hours' community service and was ordered to undergo counselling.
• Postmaster Dennis Ray Christian (born 1957) pleaded guilty on 5 October 2004 to two charges of sexual assault and one of indecent assault against young girls. The court was told on 27 October 2004 that Christian had e-mailed his principal victim to apologize and express his "deep remorse." He was sentenced to 300 hours' community service and was ordered to undergo counselling.
• Carlisle Terry Young (born 1958) a descendant of HMS Bounty midshipman Ned Young, faced one charge of rape and seven of indecent assault over a period of almost 20 years. He was convicted of one rape and six indecent assaults but was cleared of one indecent assault charge. He resented being photographed at the trial, and shoved reporter Kathy Marks aside when she tried to take his picture. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
• Jay Warren (born July 1956) former magistrate of the Pitcairn Islands from 1990 to 1999, when his office was replaced by that of the mayor following a constitutional revision. Warren was cleared of his indecent assault charge.

As of March 2009 only one prisoner, Brian Young, was still being held in the island's jail, all the others having been granted home detention status. It was reported on April 23, 2009 that Brian Young had been released on house arrest having served just over two years of his original sentence of six and a half years. It is purported that the now empty jail will be turned into a guest house.