A Dublin taxi driver is to be sentenced later this month for raping a girl when she was aged seven or eight.
Raymond Shorten (50), from Melrose Crescent, Clondalkin, Dublin, will be sentenced on July 19th. He will also be sentenced on July 22nd for the rapes of two women in his vehicle on different dates two years ago.
At the Central Criminal Court on Monday, Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo heard a victim impact statement from a young woman who was aged seven or eight when she was raped by Shorten, who was known to her family.
The first rape occurred in the girl’s home just days after her mother’s funeral more than 10 years ago, the judge heard.
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 in late 2020 after the girl left a handwritten note on her grandmother’s pillow about what Shorten had done.
Shorten, who denied the charges, was convicted at the Central Criminal Court last May of all three counts against him, two of vaginal rape and one of sexual assault.
In a victim impact statement read in court on Monday, the girl said she had always been a content child who was quite shy and found it hard to make friends but used art when she experienced issues.
Her mother died when she was seven and the abuse started right after that. She never really liked Shorten, who was known to her family, she said. He always “creeped me out” and she did not want to be near him.
She was terrified the first time he raped her, she said. One part of her knew it could not be right but the other part thought it must be normal because why else would an adult man do that to a seven-year-old child.
She would sleep with her teddy bears in order to sleep better, she said.
After the rapes and sexual assault, she started to experience strong emotional outbursts, screaming, shouting, hitting walls. “I just wanted to get my anger out. I felt so claustrophobic not going how to get these emotions out of me,” she said.
She now knew she was angry and enraged because she had been sexually abused.
She said she would always try to get out of school when she knew she would be alone with male teachers. One teacher had a similar breath smell to Shorten and she could not bear to be near him.
She later started using substances to escape the pain, began self-harming, and experienced suicidal thoughts.
She also experienced panic attacks around that time and, in some weeks, she would have panic attacks every 20 minutes.
After the investigation ended, she felt very nervous. She felt relieved when decision to prosecute was taken but was also “terrified”.
Being cross-examined was nerve-racking but when he was found guilty and convicted, she felt the beginnings of closure. Her life has been seriously impacted by the abuse in many ways. She still fears being in the places where it happened.
She had been protected by her grandmother but should also have been protected by Shorten, she said. He should not have abused me.
Geraldine Small SC, for the prosecution said the Director of Public Prosecutions believed the offences fell into the more serious category and merited a headline sentence of 10 to 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.
Lorcan Staines SC, for Shorten, said he is the father of seven children and had worked all his life. He has lost his marriage and his relationship and has been in custody since August 2022, is working in the prison laundry and is of good behaviour there.
When Mr Justice Naidoo said matters concerning prison behaviour did not appear to be mitigation factors, Mr Staines said it depends on the nature and context of the offence. His client does not accept responsibility for the offences of which he was convicted, counsel said.
Shorten is separately awaiting sentence, also on July 22nd, for the separate rapes of two women in his taxi on dates in summer 2022 when the victims were aged 19 and 20. He was found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court last month of two counts of rape and one of anal rape.
He had pleaded not guilty to the rape and anal rape of the 19-year-old woman on June 26th, 2022. He also denied the rape of the second woman, then aged 20, a couple of months later, on August 9th, 2022.
The prosecution case was 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 she was 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.”
Having heard the victim impact statements, evidence and submissions last week, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said he would impose sentence on July 22nd.
Ms Small, for the DPP, asked that a headline sentence of 10 to 15 years be considered for the offences against both women.
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