Nationality Pitcairn Islander Role Political figure | Name Steve Christian Religion Seventh-day Adventist | |
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Preceded by Jay Warrenas Magistrate Born 26 June 1951 (age 72) Pitcairn Islands ( 1951-06-26 ) Spouse(s) Olive Jal Brown (m. 1972) Children TrentRandyShawnTania | ||
Political party Independent politician | ||
Steven Raymond Christian (born 26 June 1951, Pitcairn Island) is a political figure and convicted child rapist from the Pitcairn Islands.
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Mayor
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.
Background
Christian is a patrilineal descendant of Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutineers in the late 18th century on the 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. 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.
He married Olive Jal Brown in 1972 and they have four children. Trent, Randy, Shawn and Tania.
The sexual assault trial
In 2004, Steve Christian, along with six other men, was tried on charges of rape and child sexual abuse by the Pitcairn Supreme Court. 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 – 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. He was acquitted of a sixth rape charge and of four indecent assault charges.
On 8 November 2004, Christian's sister Brenda, 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.
Ancestry
As mentioned above, Christian is a descendant of the Pitcairn Island mutineers. This can be seen in the pedigree below.