Fresh challenge over Pitcairn sovereignty

A 166-year-old document unveiled in Britain threatens to rewrite the history of Pitcairn Island and will be of "considerable significance" to the Pitcairn Supreme Court's hearing on the island's sovereignty, the Pitcairn Public Defender's counsel told the court yesterday.

Adrian Cooke, QC, returned from a fact-finding mission to Britain at the weekend with new evidence from the historic Pitcairn Register - essentially the island's community diary since Fletcher Christian and his mutineers arrived in 1790 - which is held by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge in Britain.

Last year, counsel for the Pitcairn Public Prosecutor, Kieran Raftery, told the court that when Captain Elliot of the HMS Fly had visited the island in 1838, he had claimed Pitcairn for the Crown. "This island was taken possession of by Captain Elliot on behalf of the Crown of Great Britain on the 29th of November 1838," Mr Raftery quoted from copies of the register.

But after reading the original document, Mr Cooke said yesterday: "The entry that has been put forward as the statement of Captain Elliot does not appear in the original register".

He sought a two-month adjournment so the defence could develop further arguments.

Seven Pitcairn men have been charged under British law with sexual offences dating back 40 years. Another six men living off the island face similar charges, pending extradition.

The court, sitting in Papakura, is hearing pretrial arguments from the public defender that Pitcairners never ceded their sovereignty to Britain and the remote Pacific island, with a population of 45, has its own independent laws.

Judge Charles Blackie, presiding alongside Judges Russell Johnson and Jan Lovell-Smith, said the court was sympathetic to Cooke's request for an adjournment.

But responding to Mr Raftery's concern that "complainants and accused and the Pitcairn community want to see the cloud that hangs over their island dealt with as soon as possible", the judges ordered the defence to file their submissions by March 12.