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Steve Christian

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Not to be confused with Stephen Christian, Christian von Steven, or Steven Christian (disambiguation).

Steve Christian
1st Mayor of Pitcairn Islands
In office
7 December 1999 – 8 November 2004
Preceded byJay Warren
as Magistrate
Succeeded byBrenda Christian
Personal details
Born (1951-06-26) 26 June 1951 (age 73)
Pitcairn Islands
NationalityBritish
Political partyIndependent
SpouseOlive Jal Brown (m. 1972)
Children
Parent(s)Ivan Christian
Verna Carlene Young
RelativesBrenda Christian (sister)

Steven Raymond Christian (born 26 June 1951, Pitcairn Island) is a politician, convicted sex offender and child rapist from the Pitcairn Islands.[1] He was mayor of the islands from 1999 until 2004, when he was removed from office after being found guilty in the Pitcairn child sexual abuse trial.

Background and mayoralty

Christian is a patrilineal great-great-great-great-grandson of Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutineers in the late 18th century on HMS Bounty, a story told in the 1932 Nordoff and Hall novel Mutiny on the Bounty, and several subsequent motion picture versions. He is the son of Ivan Roa Christian and Verna Carlene "Dobrey" Young, a descendant of Ned Young. Ivan Roa Christian is the son of Richard Charles Edgar Christian and nephew of Charles Richard Parkin Christian, and is the grandson of Francis Hickson Christian. Steve Christian married Olive Jal Brown in 1972 and they have four children: Trent, Randy, Shawn and Tania.

Public respect for Steve Christian's lineage gave him considerable influence long before he held political office, first as a member of the Island Council in 1976. He again served on the Council in 1982, and was briefly Chairman of the Internal Committee (considered the second-most influential political position on the island) in 1985. He was to hold this position again in 1991 and 1992, 1994 and 1995, and 1998 and 1999, when he was elected as the island's first mayor. The title was new but the office was not: the mayor had previously been known as the magistrate.

Christian was the Mayor of the Pitcairn Islands, a British dependency in the Pacific Ocean, from 7 December 1999 to 30 October 2004. He also acted as the island's supervising engineer, dentist, radiographer, and as coxswain of the longboat, which is described as Pitcairn's umbilical cord to the outside world. He was formally dismissed from office on 30 October 2004, following his rape conviction on 24 October.

Sexual assault trial

Main article: Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004

In 2004, Steve Christian, along with six other men, was tried on charges of rape and child sexual abuse by the Pitcairn Supreme Court.[1][2][3] Over the course of the trial, it was alleged that Christian repeatedly raped or assaulted a number of island women, including his children, over a period of several years[4][5] – using the remoteness of the island and his position of power to coerce their silence. Christian denied all accusations of impropriety, but admitted having consensual sex with several of his children. Christian pleaded not guilty to all charges of rape and indecent assault, but on 24 October 2004, he was convicted of committing five rapes between 1964 and 1975 for which he was sentenced for three years.[5][6] He was acquitted of a sixth rape charge and of four indecent assault charges.

On 8 November 2004, Christian's sister Brenda,[7] the island's sole police officer, was elected by the Island Council to succeed him in an interim capacity, pending elections scheduled for 15 December, when Jay Warren, the acquitted former magistrate, was elected mayor.

Later life

Christian served as one of the two assessors during the trial of Mayor Mike Warren for child pornography charges. When Warren was found guilty in 2016, Christian reportedly reacted: "I know I did some bad things in the past but never anything like that sort of stuff."[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Fickling, David (26 October 2004). "Six found guilty in Pitcairn sex offences trial". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  2. ^ "Six guilty in Pitcairn sex trial". BBC News. 25 October 2004. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  3. ^ "6 men convicted in Pitcairn trials". The New York Times. 24 October 2004. Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  4. ^ Lines, Chris (1 July 2006). "UK: Court dismisses key part of Pitcairn appeal". AAP General News Wire. ProQuest 432877107.
  5. ^ a b Birkett, Dea (29 October 2004). "Island of Lost Girls". The New York Times. p. A.25. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Six sentenced in Pitcairn abuse cases". NBC News. 25 October 2004. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Islander changes his plea to admit sex assaults". The Telegraph. 5 October 2004. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  8. ^ Marks, Kathy (11 March 2016). "Pitcairn in 'last chance saloon' after child abuse images case". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
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