Shawn Christian (mayor)

Pitcairnese politician

Shawn Christian

5th Mayor of the Pitcairn Islands
In office
1 January 2014 – 31 December 2019
Monarch| Elizabeth II
Governor| Victoria Treadell
Jonathan Sinclair
Preceded by| Mike Warren
Succeeded by| Charlene Warren-Peu
Personal details
Born|  (1975-09-14) 14 September 1975 (age 49)
Adamstown, Pitcairn Islands

Shawn Brent Christian (born 14 September 1975) is a Pitcairnese politician, who served as Mayor of the Pitcairn Islands between 2014 and 2019. He previously served time in prison after being convicted of child rape.

## Biography

[edit]

Christian was born to Steve Christian and Olive Jal Brown, and was named after Shawn Branigan, the son of friends of his parents.[1] He is a patrilineal great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Fletcher Christian. In 1998 he moved to Australia and studied in Newcastle, New South Wales.[2][3]

Along with his father, who was then serving as the islands' mayor, and older brother Randall, he was implicated in the Pitcairn sexual assault trial in 2004, and after being extradited from New Zealand to stand trial, was found guilty of two counts of child rape and one count of aiding or abetting a rape.[3][4] One of the charges related to an incident in which he and his brother gang raped a 12-year-old girl.[5][6][7] He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison,[8] but was released after two years.[9] Due to the dearth of manpower on the island, he and two other defendants were needed to help build the HM Prison Pitcairn where they would be detained.[10]

In the 2013 elections, Christian was elected Mayor of the Pitcairn Islands, beating Simon Young in the third round of voting with a majority of just one vote, after no candidate received an absolute majority in the first round and the second round (runoff) resulted in a tie.[11] He was re-elected in the 2016 elections for another three-year term.[12] Rhiannon Adam, an Irish photojournalist who stayed on the island for 3 months in 2015, discusses Christian's successful mayoral runs despite being a convicted paedophile in Big Fences / Pitcairn Island (2022).[13][10] In a 2019 Daily Telegraph profile on the island's post-scandal legacy, Nigel Richardson notes, 'The decision by islanders to elect Shawn Christian as mayor was evidently taken with no consideration for the kind of image or message it projects', and quotes Adam's remark that, 'By allowing [Shawn Christian] to hold office it's already saying, "Yeah, but the trial wasn't really a big deal, was it?" If you really want Pitcairn Island to have a future, he should be the one stepping down."[10]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Who Are the Pitcairners? Archived 2017-05-24 at the Wayback Machine Pitcairn Islands Study Center
2. ^ Christian challenges Pitcairn trial Archived 2014-04-11 at the Wayback Machine The Age, 25 November 2005
3. ^ a b Pitcairn Islander guilty of child sex Archived 2016-06-04 at the Wayback Machine The Australian, 10 January 2007
4. ^ Fletcher, Lisa (November 2008). "Pitcairn, Paradise Lost: Uncovering the Dark Secrets of a South Pacific Fantasy Island (Review)". Island Studies Journal. 3 (2): 247–249 - via Ebscohost.247-249&rft.date=2008-11&rft.aulast=Fletcher&rft.aufirst=Lisa&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Shawn+Christian+(mayor)" class="Z3988">
5. ^ "Two Pitcairn men guilty of sex charges against girls". NZ Herald. 9 January 2007. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
6. ^ Prochnau, William; Parker, Laura (17 December 2007). "Trouble in Paradise". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
7. ^ Richardson, Nigel (21 September 2019). "Human stain on island idyll". The Weekend Australian Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
8. ^ Pitcairn: Paradise Lost Archived 2014-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Reader's Digest Asia
9. ^ Eco-tourism: Pitcairn strives to live down its terrible past Archived 2015-09-25 at the Wayback Machine The Independent
10. ^ a b c Richardson, Nigel (11 May 2019). "What happens to humanity... when no one is watching". Daily Telegraph. London. pp. 24–28.24-28&rft.date=2019-05-11&rft.aulast=Richardson&rft.aufirst=Nigel&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Shawn+Christian+(mayor)" class="Z3988">
11. ^ Dem Tull Archived 2014-01-03 at the Wayback Machine October 2013
12. ^ Pitcairn Islands Government 2019 Archived 2019-11-05 at the Wayback Machine Theodora
13. ^ Adam, Rhiannon (2022). Big Fence / Pitcairn Island. Blow Up. ISBN 978-83-952840-5-2.

* v
* t
* e

Rulers of the Pitcairn Islands

Leaders|

* Fletcher Christian (1790–1793)
* Ned Young (1793–1800)
* John Adams (1800–1829)

President|

* Joshua Hill (1832–1838)

Magistrates|

* Edward Quintal (1838–1839)
* Arthur Quintal I (1840–1841)
* Fletcher Christian II (1842)
* Matthew McCoy (1843)
* Thursday October Christian II (1844)
* Arthur Quintal II (1845–1846)
* Charles Christian II (1847)
* George Adams (1848)
* Simon Young (1849)
* Arthur Quintal II (1850)
* Thursday October Christian II (1851)
* Abraham Blatchly Quintal (1852)
* Matthew McCoy (1853)
* Arthur Quintal II (1854)
* George Martin Frederick Young (1855–1856)
* Thursday October Christian II (1864)
* Moses Young (1865–1866)
* Thursday October Christian II (1867)
* Robert Pitcairn Buffett (1868)
* Moses Young (1869)
* James Russell McCoy (1870–1872)
* Thursday October Christian II (1873–1874)
* Moses Young (1875)
* Thursday October Christian II (1876–1877)
* James Russell McCoy (1878–1779)
* Thursday October Christian II (1880)
* Moses Young (1881)
* Thursday October Christian II (1882)
* James Russell McCoy (1883)
* Benjamin Stanley Young (1884–1885)
* James Russell McCoy (1886–1889)
* Charles Carleton Vieder Young (1890–1891)
* Benjamin Stanley Young (1892)

Presidents of the Council|

* James Russell McCoy (1893–1896)
* William Alfred Young (1897)
* James Russell McCoy (1897–1903)
* William Alfred Young (1904)

Magistrates|

* James Russell McCoy (1905–1906)
* Arthur Herbert Young (1907)
* William Alfred Young (1908)
* Matthew Edmond McCoy (1909)
* Gerard Bromley Robert Christian (1910–1919)
* Charles Richard Parkin Christian (1920)
* Frederick Martin Christian (1921)
* Charles Richard Parkin Christian (1922)
* Edgar Allen Christian (1923–1924)
* Charles Richard Parkin Christian (1925)
* Richard Edgar Christian (1926–1929)
* Arthur Herbert Young (1930–1931)
* Edgar Allen Christian (1932)
* Charles Richard Parkin Christian (1933–1934)
* Richard Edgar Christian (1935–1938)
* Arthur Herbert Young (1939)
* Richard Edgar Christian (1940)
* Andrew Clarence David Young (1940)
* Arthur Herbert Young (1941)
* Frederick Martin Christian (1942–1943)
* Charles Richard Parkin Christian (1944–1945)
* Norris Henry Young (1945–1948)
* Charles Richard Parkin Christian (1949)
* Warren Clive Christian (1950–1951)
* John Lorenzo Christian (1952–1954)
* Charles Richard Parkin Christian (1955–1957)
* Warren Clive Christian (1958–1959)
* John Lorenzo Christian (1959–1966)
* Pervis Ferris Young (1967–1975)
* Ivan Christian (1975–1984)
* Brian Young (1984–1991)
* Jay Warren (1991–1999)

Mayors|

* Steve Christian (1999–2004)
* Brenda Christian (acting; 2004)
* Jay Warren (2005–2007)
* Mike Warren (2008–2013)
* Shawn Christian (2014–2019)
* Charlene Warren-Peu (2020–2022)
* Simon Young (2023–)

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template