JURIST - Paper Chase: UK Privy Council upholds Pitcairn Island sex abuse convictions

[JURIST] The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council [official website] sitting in London Monday upheld [ruling, RTF] the sex abuse convictions [JURIST report] of six men for committing rapes and sexual assaults against women and underage girls on the British possession of Pitcairn Island [official website] over a period of more than 30 years. The men, including the island's mayor, had asserted that English law did not apply to their case as Pitcairn Island never ratified or approved the British legal system, but the Judicial Committee rejected this argument. The six men have lost previous appeals [JURIST report], and because the Judicial Committee is still the final court of appeal for the island, they will begin serving their sentences [JURIST report] shortly.

Pitcairn Island was originally settled by descendants of Fletcher Christian who led the 1789 mutiny against Captain William Bligh on the HMS Bounty. AP has more.

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