A Macduff child rapist who carried out offences across Scotland has been jailed for 13 years after a jury convicted him of multiple historic sex crimes.
William Stewart, 40, appeared for sentencing at the High Court in Aberdeen after a jury found him guilty of a series of rape and sex offences involving one woman and a child.
The jury also found Stewart guilty of a number of violence offences as they convicted him of more than a dozen charges last month.
It was stated that one of Stewart’s victims, a child, was as young as five when she was first raped and sexually abused by him.
Judge William Summers described Stewart’s crimes as “unimaginably depraved” and said his continued denial of his offences had been “rightly rejected” by the jury.
Stewart raped woman and child
Following the trial, Stewart was found guilty of a total of 13 charges, including violently assaulting a pregnant woman and making threats to kill her unborn child at addresses and a McDonald’s restaurant in both Motherwell and Wishaw, North Lanarkshire.
It states that Stewart made numerous threats to harm the woman and her unborn child, before dragging her by the hair and body across the ground to her injury.
These offences, which included punching his victim in the head and body and pushing food into her face, occurred between February 16 2004 and September 11 2006.
He was also found guilty of raping the same woman during the same time period.
Stewart was additionally convicted of an indecent assault on the same victim.
The jury found Stewart had raped the same woman on another occasion between August 2004 and August 2005.
He then kicked her to the body, causing her to fall to the ground, where he then poured water on her.
On another occasion during the same time period, it was found that Stewart had threatened the woman with violence unless she carried out a depraved sex act.
Stewart was also convicted of raping a child over a near eight-year period from when she was aged just five years old.
These offences occurred at a number of addresses around Motherwell and Wishaw, including at a sports centre.
The jury also found Stewart guilty of numerous depraved sex crimes against the child between 2010 and 2019 at addresses in Motherwell and Aberdeenshire.
He was additionally convicted of a second count of rape against the same child between May 2018 and October 2019.
Prison sentence ‘will be difficult’ for convicted child rapist
Defence advocate Rhonda Anderson told the court that her client suffered from an alcohol addiction “that has significantly impacted him throughout his entire life”.
“His background of trauma has no doubt contributed to his long-term abuse of alcohol,” she said.
Ms Anderson went on to say that Stewart had suffered a significant trauma due to his father’s death, which has “never really left him and has never really been addressed”.
The lawyer continued: “He was, at the beginning of [this offending], a young man of 20 years of age, and that should also be considered.
“Mr Stewart has significant issues and there are significant medications that he requires to take – he is almost in continual pain.
“His mental health is also of concern,” Ms Anderson went on, adding that Stewart was a man who had “long since given up on life”.
“He has for many years been existing but not living, and it is clear that with this background any custodial sentence will be extremely difficult for him.”
However, Ms Anderson added that Stewart had been made aware that, due to the nature of his crimes and the impact on his victims, a significant prison sentence was “inevitable”.
“His lordship has a duty to protect the public and reflect the serious nature of the offences before the court, particularly the offences that relate to the child complainer.”
‘A horrific catalogue of offending’
Sentencing Stewart, Judge William Summers told him his convictions represented “a horrific catalogue of offending” that involved assault to injury, indecent assault and rape of an adult woman alongside sexual assault and the rape of a child.
He described Stewart’s offences as “deeply troubling”.
The judge added that Stewart had treated his adult victim as an “object” to “satisfy your own sexual ends” and stated that the offences relating to the child were “unimaginably depraved”.
“It is of concern, though perhaps unsurprising, that you continue to deny any responsibility for your sexual offending,” the judge said.
“You adopt the same position as you adopted at trial, and that is a position that was rightly rejected by the jury.”
Judge Summers sentenced Stewart to an extended sentence of 17 years, which would see him serve 13 years in prison and five years on licence within the community.
The judge also placed Stewart on the sex offenders register for life and put a non-harassment order in place for both victims, meaning that Stewart cannot ever approach them again.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.