Raymond Shorten Would Serve A Total Of 30 Years

Raymond Shorten, who was sentenced to 13 years in jail on the offence of raping a seven-year-old, is now punished for further 17 years. The additional years as sentences are for raping two young women on two distinct nights in the year 2022.

Raymond Shorten, the 50-year-old rapist, took advantage of the two young women who were completely vulnerable at that time of night. They both had been drinking and this was a perfect timing for his attack.

(Also read: Breaking News- Raymond Shorten, A Taxi Driver, Convicted of Rape of a Young Girl)

Mr Justice Paul McDermott suggested that Shorten, for both the cases of seven-year-old and two young women, should be jailed collectively for 30 years. Mr Justice McDermott enforced that the decision needs to be executed strictly to defend women in our society and minimise future risk for this gender.

The judge was strongly opinionated about women being always advised not to take the bus or walk home at odd night hours. It does not depend on the need of women for which they were out; it is about becoming the subject of physical violence at all times, the judge brought up.

McDermott believed that the only option for women was to book a cab. And a rapist cabbie like Shorten was always preying on them whenever he got the perfect opportunity. It all came down to the level of trust that women put on such service providers, who otherwise are the predators.

In the case of a seven-year-old girl, Shorten raped her in her grandmother’s house after her mother’s funeral. He was her close family member and was in clearance for getting more than one chance to sexually assault the little girl.

Judge Kerida Naidoo declared him guilty with a 13-year imprisonment for all of the offences cited by the young girl. The judge spoke in favour of the little girl, saying that the offensive act was a sheer depiction of a lack of compassion from Shorten. He should’ve been more careful about the young girl’s sentiments after her mother passed away.

Rather he thought of another hideous plan that inflicted pain and suffering on her, both physically and mentally. No one would have thought of Shorten- a father of seven children, who worked as a factory worker and milkman previously- committing such repulsive crimes.

Raymond Shorten is a serious threat

Shorten continuously denied all the allegations from the very beginning of this year. The denials were related to both cases, the seven-year-old case and two more rape cases of young women.

The females were there to gain service from a fellow citizen, who they did not suspect was a hunter in reality. One of the victims who were raped on separate nights in the taxi implied that she had done what every other person claimed was safe, taking a taxi home. However, she was completely naive about Raymond Shorten’s intent.

It became her “worst nightmare” as she was in constant fear of the future. She kept on thinking that it might happen to her again whenever she thought of taking public transport.

The second victim of the same incident expressed her trauma that she was still in disbelief that not only Shorten grabbed her but also raped the other girl at the same time.

Shorten’s defence counsel, Lorcan Staines, cited that the man has lost all his family relations and contact with his old parents due to his convictions.

The judge stressed that Raymond Shorten shows no signs of remorse, which is an alarming indicator in itself. He was aware when he committed a sexual offence on a seven-year-old girl and still dared to repeat the same horrible act again. The judge proclaimed that Shorten remains a threat to society as he breached the trust of two innocent women whom he had to take home safely.