Taxi driver Raymond Shorten jailed for 13 years for rape of girl days after her mother’s funeral

A Dublin taxi driver who raped a young girl twice when she was aged seven or eight has been jailed for 13 years.

Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo imposed the sentence at the Central Criminal Court today on Raymond Shorten following his conviction of two counts of vaginal rape and one count of sexual assault of the child. Now a young woman, she was in court this morning to hear Shorten being sentenced.

Shorten (50), from Melrose Crescent, Dublin 22, faces a separate sentencing decision from another judge later for the rapes of two young women in his vehicle on separate dates in summer 2022.

At earlier sentencing hearings, senior counsel Geraldine Small for the DPP submitted a headline sentence of 10-15 years should apply to all three cases.

Earlier this month, Mr Justice Naidoo heard a victim impact statement from a young woman aged seven or eight when raped by Shorten, who was known to her family.

The first rape occurred in the child’s home more than ten years ago, just days after her mother’s funeral. Shorten, aged 37 or 38 at the time, laid the girl down on the floor of a bathroom and raped her.

The second rape happened in the bedroom of a family member when the girl found herself alone with Shorten. A third offence, of sexual assault, occurred in his vehicle.

A Garda investigation began after the girl left a handwritten note on her grandmother’s pillow in late 2020 about what Shorten had done.

Shorten, who denied the charges, was convicted in May.

At a sentencing hearing earlier this month, Ms Small said the DPP believed the offences fell into the more serious category and merited a headline sentence of 10-15 years.

Aggravating factors included the girl’s age, Shorten’s position of trust, the fact her mother had died just a few days earlier and because the abuse occurred in places that should have been “sanctuaries” for her, counsel said.

In a victim impact statement, the girl said her mother died when she was seven and Shorten’s abuse of her started right after that. She had never really liked Shorten, he always “creeped me out”.

Following the rapes, she had sleep difficulties and would, and still does, sleep with her teddy bears in an effort to sleep better. She experienced strong emotional outbursts, screaming, shouting, hitting walls. “I just wanted to get my anger out.”

She later used substances to escape the pain, began self-harming, experienced panic attacks, had suicidal thoughts and made some attempts to take her own life.

Her life has been seriously impacted in many ways by the abuse, she said. She had been protected by her grandmother but should also have been protected by Shorten. “He should not have abused me.”

Shorten’s counsel Lorcan Staines said Shorten is a father of seven who had worked all his life, had lost his marriage and his relationship and was in custody since August 2022. Shorten does not accept responsibility for the offences of which he was convicted, counsel said.

Shorten was separately found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court last month of the rape and anal rape of a 19-year-old woman on June 26th 2022, and of the separate rape of a second woman, then aged 20, a couple of months later, on August 9th 2022. He denied all the charges.

The prosecution case was that each woman found themselves in a taxi after a night out socialising in Dublin city centre where each was raped by the driver, Shorten.

In a victim impact statement, the 20-year-old woman said she got a taxi home “to be safe” but experienced a “nightmare” and continues to suffer anxiety and trust issues,

The second woman said she was a 19-year-old virgin when raped by Shorten.

“I still don’t know what to say: it’s shocking that this even happened in the first place, that a predator like this didn’t just get me but he raped another.”

The DPP submitted to the trial judge, Mr Justice Paul McDermott, that a headline sentence of 10-15 years was appropriate in both cases.