Pitcairn Island: Idyllic paradise or a haven for paedophiles

Pitcairn Island, with a total population of 47 (the total includes eight permanent outsiders), is the most remote inhabited island in the world, an outcrop of only about two-and-a-half square miles lying halfway between New Zealand and Peru. Three weeks ago it was famous only because of its past.

Now, with the trials under way and the defendants insisting their accusers are exaggerating and most of the women standing by their men, the case has raised questions, in many of the islanders’ minds, at least, whether the West’s fundamental legal standards have a place in one of the world’s strangest places.

In 1996, dark allegations began to emerge. A British missionary returned to London with a complaint that his pre-teen daughter had been seduced by a Pitcairn man, and asked police to investigate. Over the next eight years, British detectives interviewed hundreds of Pitcairn women, some still on the island and others in the US, England and New Zealand.

Their accusations have created the present trial, a surreal blend of history and reality television that has captured the world’s attention. The accusers have said the intimacy of life on Pitcairn previously made it impossible to speak out. One complainant, who said she was repeatedly raped, said there was no point even in telling her parents about the abuse. ‘‘It just seemed to be the normal way of life back on Pitcairn,’’ she said.

That, according to prosecutors, exposes the whole point of this trial. This is not about free Polynesian love, or an inevitable adaptation to life in isolation. Instead, prosecutors believe, this is the story of a tiny community where power, intimidation and silence have fed upon each other. A few powerful men, led by Steve Christian, run Pitcairn Island. He is the island’s mayor, head of the most prominent family, chief engineer, radiographer and dentist.

According to the prosecutor, Simon Moore, Christian is the leader of a group of island men known as ‘‘the boys.’’ This group of distant cousins has spent at least 40 years using any woman they wanted for sex, at any time, at any age, Moore said, when these trials began on September 29. — NYT