http://news.myway.com/odd/article/id/420704|oddlyenough|08-12-2004::09:48|reuters.html
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Descendants of English mutineers living on remote Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific have been ordered to surrender their guns amid fears that a trial for alleged child sex offences could lead to violence.
Tiny Pitcairn has a population of 45 people, who have about 20 guns between them. The deadline for them to surrender their weapons is Sept. 7.
The island's governor, the British high commissioner in New Zealand, has ordered that the weapons be handed in to the British colony's two policemen, a commission spokesman said on Wednesday.
"We thought it prudent to take the guns out of the community when emotions could be running high," the spokesman told Reuters.
He said there was a more general safety risk because the island's population will swell by about 25 during the trial.
"There is the possibility of them wandering into shot when somebody is hunting. The island is not all that big and it is covered in vegetation and the potential for an accident is very real," the spokesman said.
Seven Pitcairn Island men, descendants of 18th century mutineers who rebelled against Captain William Bligh aboard the Bounty, face a total of 96 sex charges, some dating back more than 40 years. The trial is due to start on September 23.
The men are charged with having sex with under-age girls. British law forbids having sex with a girl under 16.
Pitcairn islanders say they have a tradition dating back to Fletcher Christian and his mutineers, who had numerous Tahitian wives, whereby they had consensual sex with island girls.
Pitcairn is a rocky island of some two square miles lying about halfway between New Zealand and Panama. It has no airstrip, no safe anchorage and can only be reached by surf boats landing on a rocky cove.
The British government plans to ship in police, a jail and court officials for a trial expected to last for about six weeks.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Descendants of English mutineers living on remote Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific have been ordered to surrender their guns amid fears that a trial for alleged child sex offences could lead to violence.
Tiny Pitcairn has a population of 45 people, who have about 20 guns between them. The deadline for them to surrender their weapons is Sept. 7.
The island's governor, the British high commissioner in New Zealand, has ordered that the weapons be handed in to the British colony's two policemen, a commission spokesman said on Wednesday.
"We thought it prudent to take the guns out of the community when emotions could be running high," the spokesman told Reuters.
He said there was a more general safety risk because the island's population will swell by about 25 during the trial.
"There is the possibility of them wandering into shot when somebody is hunting. The island is not all that big and it is covered in vegetation and the potential for an accident is very real," the spokesman said.
Seven Pitcairn Island men, descendants of 18th century mutineers who rebelled against Captain William Bligh aboard the Bounty, face a total of 96 sex charges, some dating back more than 40 years. The trial is due to start on September 23.
The men are charged with having sex with under-age girls. British law forbids having sex with a girl under 16.
Pitcairn islanders say they have a tradition dating back to Fletcher Christian and his mutineers, who had numerous Tahitian wives, whereby they had consensual sex with island girls.
Pitcairn is a rocky island of some two square miles lying about halfway between New Zealand and Panama. It has no airstrip, no safe anchorage and can only be reached by surf boats landing on a rocky cove.
The British government plans to ship in police, a jail and court officials for a trial expected to last for about six weeks.
