AUCKLAND, (AFP) - Five of the seven Pitcairn Islanders charged with multiple sex abuse crimes were reported to have been found guilty, while a sixth man pleaded guilty during the trial which exposed the dark side of the remote community.
Following a three-week hearing which caught international attention as it involved more than half the 12 adult males among a total population of 47, mayor Steve Christian was convicted of some of the most serious offences.
He was found guilty of five counts of rape against girls as young as 12, while his son Randy Christian was found guilty of four rapes and four indecent assaults, Radio Australia reported.
The victims of the abuse, who pressed a total of 55 charges dating back as far as 40 years, gave evidence via video link from New Zealand, while women on the island said before the trial that the charges were a miscarriage of justice and the sex was consensual.
"We all thought sex was like food on the table," said Olive Christian, 48, Steve Christian's wife.
The only person found not guilty was Pitcairn magistrate Jay Warren who faced charges of indecent assault.
The oldest defendant, 78-year-old Len Brown was convicted of two rapes and his son Dave Brown was found guilty of nine indecent assaults. Terry Young was convicted of one rape and six indecent assaults, while Dennis Christian pleaded guilty to three indecent assault charges.
The six will be sentenced later this week but will not immediately go to jail.
Although Pitcairn is a British territory halfway between New Zealand and Chile, lawyers for the men expect to argue before the Privy Council in London that England does not have jurisdiction over the island which was settled in 1790 by Fletcher Christian and his mutineers on board HMS Bounty.
The mutineers burnt the ship, and the lawyers have argued during earlier hearings that meant they severed their ties with Britain.
Any jail terms will be suspended until the outcome of that hearing, and another New Zealand court hearing are known.
In the legal challenge to be heard in New Zealand next February the men's lawyers will argue that even if Britain does have jurisdiction, it never promulgated the under-age sex law on Pitcairn.
10/25/2004 - 08:11 GMT - AFP