Police and lawyers were due on Friday on the remote British Pacific territory of Pitcairn Island where they will lay sex charges against many of the island’s men.
The colony of just 44 people, 2 160 kilometres southeast of Tahiti, fears for its future because of the charges.
The British High Commission in Wellington, which is also the office of the British Governor to Pitcairn, said on Friday the charges would be laid by Simon Moore, the Auckland-based public prosecutor for Pitcairn, over the next few days.
The police and Moore refused to reveal the number or names of people being investigated or what charges they would face, although charges ranging from sex with an underage person to rape of a seven-year-old and indecent assault of a three-year-old were expected.
The party flew to Mangareva in French Polynesia, and travelled by charter boat for two days to Pitcairn which does not have an airstrip.
On board were Judge Gray Cameron, Moore and two assistants, public defender Paul Dacre and his assistant, a court registrar, three police officers from the Kent constabulary in Britain and two British Ministry of Defence police officers.
Two Defence officers were already on Pitcairn, which has an adult population of just 27.
Moore carried letters for the accused which would be delivered by Dacre, who was to act for them.
Bryan Nicolson, representative for the Pitcairn Governor, said the accused would appear before Cameron in the Pitcairn hall.
They would be formally charged, asked to plead, and remanded. The party was expected to stay on Pitcairn about a week, he said.
Although the hall was condemned eight years ago, islanders say new tables, chairs, curtains, two large TV screens and creamy brown carpet have been brought in.
Pitcairn’s human settlement followed the 1789 mutiny aboard HMS Bounty, led by master’s mate Fletcher Christian.
The mutineers cast their captain, William Bligh, adrift and with eight mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, six Polynesian men, 12 Polynesian women and a small girl went to Pitcairn.
They set the ship ablaze and remained undiscovered for 18 years.
Many of the people on Pitcairn are direct descendants while other descendants now live in Australias Norfolk Island and in New Zealand. – Sapa-AFP