SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Judge Hughes said:

"James Stewart Haram you have been convicted by a jury of having committed 19 charges which include rape, assault to injury and danger of life and violence with sexual offending involving children. These are extremely serious matters. The jury heard evidence over a period of 10 days and they took four days of deliberation to reach their verdicts. Nine of the guilty verdicts which contain some of the most serious charges were reached on a unanimous basis.

Following your convictions I requested a criminal justice social work report and risk assessment to be prepared for consideration by the court. I have now had an opportunity of reading the full terms of the reports and take all relevant factors into account. As you are aware I have also received victim impact statements from the various complainers involved in this case and in selecting the appropriate sentence, I have taken into account all of the information contained in these statements. The term “victims” is used advisedly, because that’s what they are. They are the victims of your serious offending against them. The terms of the statements are powerful and eloquent. The various witnesses have taken some time to demonstrate to the court the effect your offending has had on their lives. The statements set out in detail the catastrophic effect your violent, deviant, behaviour has had on each of them. You should be under no illusion that you have left each of them badly scarred by your unlawful conduct. No person in our society should be subjected to the conduct you inflicted on each and every one of them. Copies of the statements have been made available to your counsel and no doubt you will have plenty of time in the future to fully reflect on the damage you have caused to those individuals. Nothing I can do in imposing sentence in this case can adequately compensate your victims for the trauma you have caused them. I would however ask them to be reassured that they have been able to come to this court and gave evidence before a jury. It must be a comfort to the victims that they have been believed by the jury and their position in this case has been entirely vindicated. You have caused them deep mental wounds, but they are not broken by you. I hope that in due course they can move on with their life and try, as best they can, to make some form of recovery.

I have considered all of the information provided to me in mitigation of sentence. I considered the relevant factors in the criminal justice social work report and I also take into account the powerful and eloquent plea in mitigation made on your behalf by your senior counsel. You have provided five character references and I have studied them and take the information contained in them into account. They come from people who know you personally over the years and through your ministry. It is fair to say they struggle to understand the level of your criminal behaviour. You show a limited remorse for some of the more minor offences, blaming your bad temper. You express shame for that and claim that you have now embarked on counselling to prevent this in the future. It is most concerning that you do not accept any guilt whatsoever for the most serious charges on which you have been convicted. You show no sympathy for your victims, to some extent blaming them for what happened. You seek to justify your position, citing bad behaviour on the part of your victims; conduct you witnessed from cults and organisations in America and even suggesting that your conduct was inspired by Bible teaching. This was considered by the jury and entirely rejected. Your lack of remorse to some extent aggravates your offending.

In passing sentence in this case I take various factors into account. This was not an isolated incident which took place over a short period of time. The indictment discloses that this offending took place between February 1997 and October 2019. There are 19 proven offences against different people and in different locations. Some of these offences are of a most serious nature. These involve sexual and physical violence against others. During the time you are committing these offences, you were actively involved in religious practice, doing religious work and study and eventually qualifying to be a minister with a congregation of your own. Your congregation trusted you and as you indicated in your evidence, they maintained you and provided you with accommodation. You betrayed their confidence in you. Whilst that was going on you are committing appalling offences, betraying your position as a man of the cloth. You should have been a role model to your parishioners and society in general but in reality, there was a darker, deeper side to you whereby you were actively involved in sexual, physical and violent abuse of adults and children. These are serious charges. It is acknowledged by your senior counsel that a lengthy custodial sentence is now inevitable. With a view to demonstrating open justice, I will allocate sentences for each of the offences and at the conclusion I shall advise you of the cumulative effect: -

• charge one - two years’ imprisonment.
• charge two – two years’ imprisonment.
• charge three – two years’ imprisonment.

these sentences shall run concurrent with each other and will be for a total of two years’ imprisonment.

• charge four – one year imprisonment.
• charge five – three years’ imprisonment.

these sentences will run concurrent with each other and shall be for a period of three years to run consecutive to all other sentences.

• Charges six and seven, the rape charges, shall carry a concurrent sentence of seven years imprisonment but shall run consecutive to all other sentences.
• Charges 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 shall carry concurrent sentences of one year for each charge making a sentence of one year to run consecutive to all other sentences.
• Charge 20 shall be a sentence of one year imprisonment to run consecutive to all other sentences.

The total of the various consecutive sentences comes to a period of 14 years imprisonment to commence from 12 August 2025 when you were first remanded in custody.  I take the view that the submissions of your Senior Counsel that an extended sentence is not required in this case are well founded and I shall refrain from extending your custodial sentence.

In terms of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, I am required to state that you have been convicted of sexual offences to which Part 2 of that Act applies. The court has certified these facts and the clerk of the court will give you a copy of that certificate together with the notice which gives further details of the notification requirements with which you must comply. This will run for an indefinite period I also direct the clerk of court to intimate details of your conviction to the Scottish Ministers in terms of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

I shall make a non-harassment order in respect of each complainer for an indefinite period."