Paul Nutteing
2004-09-19 12:10:59 UTC
Culture Shock
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3038329a11,00.html
Quote
Pitcairn sex case papers stay secret
19 September 2004
By DONNA CHISHOLM
The High Court has stepped in to prevent the release of a raft of sensitive
documents on the Pitcairn Island sex
abuse case.
Lawyer Christopher Harder, who acts for one of the Pitcairn men, was
injuncted on
Friday after attempting to meet
Pitcairn Governor Richard Fell to discuss the documents which he said could
be
highly damaging to the case.
Seven other Pitcairn Island men face 96 historical sex charges in a trial
beginning on
the island on September 27.
In a letter to Fell, Harder said Pitcairn Islanders wanted a restorative
justice approach to
the case and such an
outcome "would not only allow for justice to be done, it would also prevent
considerable
embarrassment to Her
Majesty's Government by keeping these documents closeted from media
scrutiny".
End Quote
From The Guardian / Weekend Sept 18,2004
Paradise on Trial , by Dea Birkett
p 28-34, long article - so sections
<...>
Next week, seven Pitcaimers - almost two-thirds of the men on the island,
from a total
population of fewer than 40
- will go on trial for sexual offences ranging from gross indecency and
indecent assault to
rape. The accused - Jay
Warren, Dennis Christian, Len Brown, Terry Young, Dave Brown, Steve
Christian and
Randy Christian face 96
charges between them. All are against children who are now adults.
<...>
Pitcairn's fall began in the late 1990s, when an allegation of rape was made
by a visitor to
the island on behalf of
his daughter. Two officers with Kent county constabulary, Detective
Superintendent Dennis
McGookin and his
colleague Detective Sergeant Peter George, were sent 12,000 miles to
Pitcairn to investigate.
They were the first
British police officers ever to set foot on the island. Although the rape
case was dropped
and a caution concerning
underage sex given, McGookin was disturbed at what he found:
<...>
Many islanders say that Operation Unique gathered the forces of a powerful
nation against
tiny Pitcairn. "Britain
is treating us all like criminals, like animals," said one islander. Karl
Young wrote to the
governor: "It never
ceases to amaze us that so far you, as its governor, have never shown any
compassion for
the community or tried
to provide fairtreatment for the helpless islanders you are supposed to look
after, not persecute."
<...>
"Its been very difficult to keep the complainants on board. The police have
been working
round the clock to keep
them," said Moore. By the time charges were laid, two of the complainants
had withdrawn.
A further eight
prepared a petition, claiming the police had browbeaten them into making
accusations
against the men. A formal
complaint was made against police officer Karen Vaughn to the Police
Complaints
Authority in New Zealand. Kari
Young, a Norwegian married to Pitcaimer Brian Young, who has spent most of
her adult
life on the island,
claimed that the British government offered women "compensation if they had
stories to tell,
whether about
themselves or their neighbours" and "put pressure on the women to fabricate
stories".
When women did come
forward to tell police what happened to them, they made it clear from the
out set that
they did not want their
interviews to be used as evidence. A complaint concerning a three-year
ld - the
youngest alleged victim - also
fell. Around 10 complainants remain, all now adults from their early 20s to
late middle
age. There is still anxiety
that some could withdraw at the last minute. Most live in Australia and New
Zealand, a
nd will give their evidence
by video link, but there are two on the island "if they turn up", as one
lawyer said.
"There are no secrets on
Pitcairn," said Steve Christian, who faces some of the most serious charges.
Some
Pitcairners argue that everyone
knew what was happening on the island: no crime had been committed, it was
all a case of
cultural
misunderstanding. Having sex from the age of 12 is not only legal under
Pitcairnlaw, they say,
but common practice
through-out Polynesia. It is certainly true that Pitcairners start having
children young; one 22
year-old already has
four children. It's also common for a woman to have her first child by one
man and her second
by another, who will
nevertheless willingly adopt her firstborn as his own. But deputy governor
Matthew Forbes,
who is in day-to-day
charge of the island, though based in New Zealand, believes this argument
belies the seriousness
of some of the
charges, suggesting it is a question of teenagers behind the bike shed.
"We're talking about
offences against
children at quite a young age, and I don't accept that that's a cultural
norm on Pitcairn or in
Polynesia," he said.
Thirty-one of the charges are for rape. At least one involves two men
pinning down a minor;
another placing a penis inside a five year old's mouth.
<...>
Whether they prove to be true or false, these recent allegations will
irretrievably change such a
small place. "We are like
one family," says Betty Christian, 59,a grandmother, wife of Tom Christian,
sixth generation
descendant of
mutineer Fletcher Christian and elder in the Seventh Day Adventist church.
"Regardless of our
differences and
problems, none of our people want to see Pitcairn closed down and abandoned.
Whatever the
outcome, all of us will
be affected as we are related to both alleged victims and alleged
perpetrators." The island used
to be governed at
arm's length - when I visited, the governor had never set foot on the
island. Now, he has a r
epresentative in
residence, and visits regularly himself. Pitcaim has become the most heavily
policed
community in the world. Two
rotating Ministry of Defence police officers one sergeant and one constable
are now
permanently posted on the
island, together with two more investigating officers. Two social workers
specialising in
child protection are sent
out from New Zealand on three month contracts. Under a new Child Protection
Ordinance,
they've been given the
power to remove a child from its family if they fear for its welfare.
<...>
A new six-bedded house called McCoys
where the legal teams and social workers stayed, is nicknamed the Pink
Palace, as it
compares so favourably with
the islanders' own homes. And all these would lie close by the six-cell
prison, known
as the remand centre, and its
adjoining police station - the biggest building on the island.
The fact is that Pitcairn is already a prison from which nobody can escape.
The harsh seas a
round Bounty Bay hem
in the islanders far more effectively than any amount of wire fencing or
steel gates. It is
this geographical jailing
that has always framed the Pitcairners. But now, unlike two centuries ago,
this isolation
cannot put them beyond
the reach of the law.
Next week, MV Braveheart will stop off at Bounty Bay, carrying the two legal
teams, judges, stenographers, a
court registrar, prosecuting police office from Kent county constabulary,
Matthew Forbes
and six members of the
media picked to cover the trial. For the first time, outsiders will
outnumber adult islanders.
The defendants will be
heard before three judges; there could be no jury, as there simply aren't
enough islanders
unconnected to an
accuser or accused to fill a jury box.
End Quote
Other material
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1307811,00.html
Wiltshire Social Services exposed
http://www.nutteing2.freeservers.com/nutteing3.htm
or nutteing3 in a search engine
Valid email ***@fastmail.....fm (remove 4 of the 5 dots)
Ignore any other apparent em address used to post this message -
it is defunct due to spam.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3038329a11,00.html
Quote
Pitcairn sex case papers stay secret
19 September 2004
By DONNA CHISHOLM
The High Court has stepped in to prevent the release of a raft of sensitive
documents on the Pitcairn Island sex
abuse case.
Lawyer Christopher Harder, who acts for one of the Pitcairn men, was
injuncted on
Friday after attempting to meet
Pitcairn Governor Richard Fell to discuss the documents which he said could
be
highly damaging to the case.
Seven other Pitcairn Island men face 96 historical sex charges in a trial
beginning on
the island on September 27.
In a letter to Fell, Harder said Pitcairn Islanders wanted a restorative
justice approach to
the case and such an
outcome "would not only allow for justice to be done, it would also prevent
considerable
embarrassment to Her
Majesty's Government by keeping these documents closeted from media
scrutiny".
End Quote
From The Guardian / Weekend Sept 18,2004
Paradise on Trial , by Dea Birkett
p 28-34, long article - so sections
<...>
Next week, seven Pitcaimers - almost two-thirds of the men on the island,
from a total
population of fewer than 40
- will go on trial for sexual offences ranging from gross indecency and
indecent assault to
rape. The accused - Jay
Warren, Dennis Christian, Len Brown, Terry Young, Dave Brown, Steve
Christian and
Randy Christian face 96
charges between them. All are against children who are now adults.
<...>
Pitcairn's fall began in the late 1990s, when an allegation of rape was made
by a visitor to
the island on behalf of
his daughter. Two officers with Kent county constabulary, Detective
Superintendent Dennis
McGookin and his
colleague Detective Sergeant Peter George, were sent 12,000 miles to
Pitcairn to investigate.
They were the first
British police officers ever to set foot on the island. Although the rape
case was dropped
and a caution concerning
underage sex given, McGookin was disturbed at what he found:
<...>
Many islanders say that Operation Unique gathered the forces of a powerful
nation against
tiny Pitcairn. "Britain
is treating us all like criminals, like animals," said one islander. Karl
Young wrote to the
governor: "It never
ceases to amaze us that so far you, as its governor, have never shown any
compassion for
the community or tried
to provide fairtreatment for the helpless islanders you are supposed to look
after, not persecute."
<...>
"Its been very difficult to keep the complainants on board. The police have
been working
round the clock to keep
them," said Moore. By the time charges were laid, two of the complainants
had withdrawn.
A further eight
prepared a petition, claiming the police had browbeaten them into making
accusations
against the men. A formal
complaint was made against police officer Karen Vaughn to the Police
Complaints
Authority in New Zealand. Kari
Young, a Norwegian married to Pitcaimer Brian Young, who has spent most of
her adult
life on the island,
claimed that the British government offered women "compensation if they had
stories to tell,
whether about
themselves or their neighbours" and "put pressure on the women to fabricate
stories".
When women did come
forward to tell police what happened to them, they made it clear from the
out set that
they did not want their
interviews to be used as evidence. A complaint concerning a three-year
ld - the
youngest alleged victim - also
fell. Around 10 complainants remain, all now adults from their early 20s to
late middle
age. There is still anxiety
that some could withdraw at the last minute. Most live in Australia and New
Zealand, a
nd will give their evidence
by video link, but there are two on the island "if they turn up", as one
lawyer said.
"There are no secrets on
Pitcairn," said Steve Christian, who faces some of the most serious charges.
Some
Pitcairners argue that everyone
knew what was happening on the island: no crime had been committed, it was
all a case of
cultural
misunderstanding. Having sex from the age of 12 is not only legal under
Pitcairnlaw, they say,
but common practice
through-out Polynesia. It is certainly true that Pitcairners start having
children young; one 22
year-old already has
four children. It's also common for a woman to have her first child by one
man and her second
by another, who will
nevertheless willingly adopt her firstborn as his own. But deputy governor
Matthew Forbes,
who is in day-to-day
charge of the island, though based in New Zealand, believes this argument
belies the seriousness
of some of the
charges, suggesting it is a question of teenagers behind the bike shed.
"We're talking about
offences against
children at quite a young age, and I don't accept that that's a cultural
norm on Pitcairn or in
Polynesia," he said.
Thirty-one of the charges are for rape. At least one involves two men
pinning down a minor;
another placing a penis inside a five year old's mouth.
<...>
Whether they prove to be true or false, these recent allegations will
irretrievably change such a
small place. "We are like
one family," says Betty Christian, 59,a grandmother, wife of Tom Christian,
sixth generation
descendant of
mutineer Fletcher Christian and elder in the Seventh Day Adventist church.
"Regardless of our
differences and
problems, none of our people want to see Pitcairn closed down and abandoned.
Whatever the
outcome, all of us will
be affected as we are related to both alleged victims and alleged
perpetrators." The island used
to be governed at
arm's length - when I visited, the governor had never set foot on the
island. Now, he has a r
epresentative in
residence, and visits regularly himself. Pitcaim has become the most heavily
policed
community in the world. Two
rotating Ministry of Defence police officers one sergeant and one constable
are now
permanently posted on the
island, together with two more investigating officers. Two social workers
specialising in
child protection are sent
out from New Zealand on three month contracts. Under a new Child Protection
Ordinance,
they've been given the
power to remove a child from its family if they fear for its welfare.
<...>
A new six-bedded house called McCoys
where the legal teams and social workers stayed, is nicknamed the Pink
Palace, as it
compares so favourably with
the islanders' own homes. And all these would lie close by the six-cell
prison, known
as the remand centre, and its
adjoining police station - the biggest building on the island.
The fact is that Pitcairn is already a prison from which nobody can escape.
The harsh seas a
round Bounty Bay hem
in the islanders far more effectively than any amount of wire fencing or
steel gates. It is
this geographical jailing
that has always framed the Pitcairners. But now, unlike two centuries ago,
this isolation
cannot put them beyond
the reach of the law.
Next week, MV Braveheart will stop off at Bounty Bay, carrying the two legal
teams, judges, stenographers, a
court registrar, prosecuting police office from Kent county constabulary,
Matthew Forbes
and six members of the
media picked to cover the trial. For the first time, outsiders will
outnumber adult islanders.
The defendants will be
heard before three judges; there could be no jury, as there simply aren't
enough islanders
unconnected to an
accuser or accused to fill a jury box.
End Quote
Other material
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1307811,00.html
Wiltshire Social Services exposed
http://www.nutteing2.freeservers.com/nutteing3.htm
or nutteing3 in a search engine
Valid email ***@fastmail.....fm (remove 4 of the 5 dots)
Ignore any other apparent em address used to post this message -
it is defunct due to spam.