Welt Auge - Volker Steinbacher

Dear Volker,
This Letter is a part of our struggling Pitcairners striving for the rights of Pitcairn islanders.
Would appreciate any feedback and if possible to pass this on.
Thank you
Meralda
We are a group of concerned Pitcairners on and off the island who are deeply distressed by
the struggle the last six years to prove that the Pitcairn men are not child rapists. We have
been advised by legal experts to take our case to the court of last resort, the Privy Council in
London in July 2006. Now we have come to the point where we need to ask for help, though
it goes against the grain of our independence and self sufficiency. We are used to work for
everything we have, we are hard workers, and it has taken us a great deal of heartache to
decide to ask for help.
The Pitcairn men charged with serious crimes have till now not had their fundamental right of
counsel of their own choice to represent them. A Public Defender and a Deputy Public
Defender from New Zealand were appointed by the Governor of Pitcairn Islands, responsible
for the introduction of English criminal laws to Pitcairn. These counsel were then assigned
under Legal Aid laws to represent the Pitcairn men. Another counsel chosen by the Public
Defender was also assigned to represent them shortly before the 2004 trial. In 2002 this
counel was still an associate member of the law firm chosen to prosecute the alleged crimes.
Again the Pitcairn men had no say in this choice, they had three lawyers to defend the seven
of them, and there was great concern about the situation.
For reasons which they believed to be good and valid, the majority of the Pitcairn men have
lost trust and confidence in the representation assigned to them. They have chosen to obtain
the services of very senior and experienced lawyers, because they are concerned at the very
real prospect that if they don't succeed in the Privy Council appeal, the future of Pitcairn
Island is in extreme peril. We have to appeal for help in raising the funds needed to fight for
our own and Pitcairn's survival. When it is understood that there are less than forty
Pitcairners living on the island, and that the monthly wages range from NZ$50 to NZ$350, it
is clear that a proper fight in the Privy Council is only possible if friends of Pitcairn Island
contribute generously to save a special and unique community.
One of our highly qualified independent lawyers is working for free, the other one at reduced
rate, but there are still associated costs which will all but bankrupt us. The Privy Council in
London in July will cost over NZ$100.000,- an astronomical sum for us, but the only way to
try to get justice for the island.
Essential justice and fairness have not been given to our men in the proceedings so far:
1. No jury trial, the defendants were not judged by their own peers, but by NZ judges
2. The defendants were accused and convicted according to a British law that had never been
promulgated on the island. The relevant Pitcairn ordinance, the only one the islanders knew,
was not applied.
3. The allegations from several Pitcairn women about police promising “compensation”
during interviews were not investigated by the courts.