Shawn Brent Christian (born 14 September 1975) is a Pitcairnese politician, who served as Mayor of the Pitcairn Islands between 2014 and 2019.
[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.
[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.
[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?"