The trial of seven Pitcairn Island men on charges of rape and underage sex has begun, with the mayor first up in the dock, Television New Zealand reported.
Mayor Steve Christian, a descendant of Fletcher Christian who led the 18th-century Bountymutineers, appeared in a specially built courtroom before three British judges to face six charges of rape and four charges of indecent assault on four women from 1964 to 1975.
Prosecutor Mr Simon Moore
Mr Christian has pleaded not guilty.
Pitcairn, the last British territory in the Pacific with a population of just 47, is a five-square-kilometre outcrop about halfway between New Zealand and Panama.
Prosecutor Mr Simon Moore told the court in the South Pacific island's community hall that Mr Christian (53) had used his power as the "leader of the pack" to rape and indecently assault girls as young as 12.
The court was told that in police interviews Mr Christian had talked of "consensual sex", describing one girl as "fooling around with everybody", TVNZ reported. But Mr Moore told the court: "There was no question of consent. It was as if the accused was exercising some right which he believed to be his."
British law forbids having sex with a girl under 16. Seven men, half of Pitcairn's male population and all descendants of the mutineers who rebelled against Captain William Bligh, face sex charges dating back more than 40 years.
Mr Christian was 15 when he was alleged to have raped a 12-year-old as two other boys held her down under some banyan trees, the prosecution told the court. Mr Moore said Christian had displayed a "callous and cavalier" attitude to his victims.
A group of eight former Pitcairn women, now living in New Zealand, will give evidence via video for the prosecution. The trial had to be stopped several times as one of the women broke down as she described her life as a young girl on Pitcairn.
The charges against the Pitcairn men follow a report by a British policewoman stationed on the island in 1999.
Some women who first gave evidence against the men have since withdrawn the charges, saying they were misled by police. One said she had been offered compensation if she testified.
On the eve of the trial, a group of Pitcairn women told reporters that having sex at age 12 was a tradition dating back to the first settlers and was always consensual.
The British government has had to ship in judges, police, a jail, court officials and a handful of reporters for the trial, which is expected to last for about six weeks.
The island, 2,160 kilometres southeast of Tahiti, is too rocky for an airstrip and is reached by flying to an outer Tahitian island and then taking a 36-hour boat ride. Travellers are ferried through the surf to the tiny harbour on longboats.
East of the international dateline and a day behind New Zealand and Australia, Pitcairn has no paved roads, no sewage system and no landline telephones.