Raymond Shorten, Taxi Driver, Convicted Of Rape A Child

Raymond Shorten is jailed for 13 years for the rape of two young girls and a child aged seven to eight years. Shorten, the Dublin taxi driver, is sentenced by Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo at the Central Criminal Court after the rape of a young girl is proven.

The young girl was raped twice by Shorten when she was just seven or eight years old. The same child was the victim of one sexual attack.

(Also read: Former Irish Swimming Coach Found Guilty of Raping A Teenage Girl Based On An Old Complaint)

The young child was unsure of what was happening to her as she was quite young and naive. She narrated that one part of her said that it might be right. Otherwise, why would a young man do it to her? And on the other hand, she felt inside that this was not right at all.

Once she started having sex education at school, things began to become clear. It hit her like a shot that what was done to her was not right at any cost. Experiencing sudden outbursts of anger, sadness, despair, and helplessness were all the repercussions of a cruel incident like the rape of a young girl that shouldn’t have happened.

After her mother passed away ten years ago, she experienced sexual abuse for the first time. Only a few days after the mother’s death, the girl was brought to the floor of a bathroom and Shorten imposed himself on her. Shorten was 37 or 38 years old at that time.

The second time was when Raymond Shorten was with the girl in the bedroom of a family member. The third time, a sexual assault happened in the back of the taxi driver’s vehicle.

The girl disclosed the gruesome incident to her grandmother in a note hand-written by her. The note was left on her grandmother’s pillow in late 2020. A Garda investigation was initiated immediately against Raymond Shorten.

Court Proceedings on Raymond Shorten

The court declared explicitly that the taxi driver lacked compassion and any last bit of humanity when he decided to commit the rape of a young girl. His performed violation created a long-term impact on the little girl’s psyche for the rest of her life.

Raymond Shorten denied all the charges against him, saying that they were “110% a lie”. He was in complete denial when he was first brought into the court at the beginning of this year. He would not stop emphasising that the facts were nothing but absolute fabrications.

To negate all of his statements, the young girl, who is now 20 years old, verified all of her allegations. The jury found him guilty on all of the counts, including the rape of a young girl. The victim attested that she was a prime and an easy target because Shorten knew her family.

After unveiling all the details of the incident’s after-effects, the girl added that she was on drugs. She used substances to get rid of the pain that remained in her head all the time. She even became suicidal at certain times in her life.

The girl was relieved when she was told that Raymond Shorten would be tried in court. She was terrified in the beginning as she knew she would be seeing the evil-doer again in front of her. She was aware that she would have to recount all the details of the hideous incident again in front of everyone.

However, she was allayed when the court found Raymond Shorten guilty. She was content that she had found closure to her life’s biggest misery. She confessed that her life was in a great mess before the court’s decision.

Raymond Shorten also expects a sentence decision for the other three rape of young women in his taxi, dating back to June and August 2022. He kept refusing the offences and wanted to come clean by saying that he was a father of seven children. Despite having hopes to build a strong bond with his children, he had lost all his loved ones while he was being tried in court.