Eimear Dodd
A Dublin taxi driver has been jailed for 13 years for the rape and sexual abuse of a seven-year-old girl over a decade ago.
Raymond Shorten (50) of Melrose Crescent, Clondalkin was convicted in May of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault in 2012 of the young girl.
The now 20-year-old woman has indicated she wishes for Shorten to be named, but to retain her anonymity.
On Monday, Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo said the aggravating factors included the seriousness of the offending, the age and vulnerability of the victim, and its impact on her.
He noted that Shorten raped the victim for the first time in the wake of her mother's funeral when she would have been “extremely vulnerable” due to her recent loss.
The judge said this showed a lack of “any compassion for the child”. He said Shorten “couldn't have cared less” about the long-term pain and suffering this would have caused to the girl.
Mr Justice Naidoo said the victim impact statement described the “deep and abiding damage” caused to the injured party.
Setting a headline sentence of 14 years on the rape counts, Mr Justice Naidoo said there was “very little to mitigate his wrong” but said he had considered Shorten's personal circumstance and the available mitigation, reducing the sentence by one year to 13 years.
He backdated it to August 22nd 2022 when Shorten went into custody.
Mr Justice Naidoo noted Shorten is due to be sentenced on other offences and that these have “no impact on this case”. He said the issue of post-release supervision and rehabilitation could be considered once the other sentence is finalised.
Shorten was also convicted in June of two counts of rape and one of anal rape in relation to two other young women who separately found themselves in a taxi after a night out socialising in Dublin during the summer of 2022.
Handwritten note
The trial judge, Mr Justice Paul McDermott, previously said he would impose sentence after Mr Justice Naidoo has finalised sentence in relation to the offences involving the young girl.
Shorten has been in custody since August 2022.
The court previously heard that the sexual abuse of the young girl came to light after she left a handwritten note on her grandmother's pillow in 2020.
An investigating garda told the court that Shorten, then 37, was known to the girl’s family.
He raped the girl for the first time in a bathroom at her family home in the days following her mother’s funeral. She was seven or eight when the second rape occurred. Shorten later sexually assaulted her in a car by touching her leg inappropriately.
Shorten denied any wrongdoing when interviewed by gardai and in his evidence during the trial. He does not accept responsibility for the offences, defence senior counsel Lorcan Staines told the court at the previous sentence hearing.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecuting counsel Gerardine Small SC, the woman said she was “severely taken advantage of” by Shorten, whom she never liked.
She said “he always creeped me out” and she didn't want to go near him. She said she was terrified and didn't understand what was happening.
She said it was only when she started sex education in school at the age of 14 that she realised what Shorten did to her was wrong.
She said when Shorten was convicted, she felt she'd “finally found the beginning of the end”.
She added that Shorten “should have protected me, not abused me”.
At the earlier hearing, Mr Staines asked the court to backdate any sentence to August 2022, when his client went into custody.
He said Shorten has a long work history and hopes to rebuild his relationship with his seven children in the future.
Shorten has been working in the prison laundry while in custody and is on an enhanced prisoner regime.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.
