The daughter of rapist taxi driver Raymond Shorten hopes he “gets what he deserves”

The daughter of two-time rapist and taxi driver Raymond Shorten says she hopes he now “gets what he deserves”.

Last week, Shorten (50), of Melrose Crescent in Clondalkin, West Dublin, was found guilty of rape and anal rape for attacking two women who ended up in his taxi in 2022. In an exclusive interview with the Irish Mirror today, Shorten’s daughter Nikita told how her family has been completely devastated by his actions. “We can’t cope with it at all and I hope he gets what he deserves,” Nikita told us.

“Not only did he hurt the girls, he broke us, and we will have to live with that for the rest of our lives.” But brave Nikita shared how she and her family have stuck together – as they learn to deal with the reality of their father’s actions. “But we are a strong family, and if we have each other, we will get through anything,” she told us.

Read more: Dublin man found guilty of raping two women in the back seat of his taxi

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A devastated Nikita also allowed this newspaper to share her social media post in which she spoke of the grief of losing a father she thought she had and how he now means “nothing” to her. “Father’s Day and the grief of losing a father we once had before we even knew what he was.”

“I am so proud of myself and my brothers and sisters for going through the hardest thing we have ever had to go through. The news, the posts, the TikToks, everything we have to see and while behind closed doors we are going through even more.

“I am so happy for the girls who got the justice they deserve. This has nothing to do with us and this man means nothing to us. I am thankful for the wonderful family I have and the wonderful woman who raised us.” Nikita’s comments come as another family member also posted on social media, saying it “feels like we are drowning right now.”

“It feels like we are drowning right now but at least we are in this together. We are our own people and not a reflection of the man,” the family member wrote. “I love my beautiful family who continue to show me that there is still beauty and goodness in this ugly world. You all have made me so incredibly proud and I am so lucky to have you and to love you,” they added.

Last week, a jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts after deliberating for a total of 76 minutes. In her opening statement, senior prosecutor Geraldine Small said the prosecution alleged that each of the two women found themselves in a taxi after a night out in Dublin city centre in the summer of 2022, where they were raped by Shorten in the vehicle.

Although the two women do not know each other, there were some similarities between them and their testimony during the trial. They were close in age – the first 19 and the second 20 – when the incidents occurred in June and August 2022. They were both with friends and had been drinking on the nights in question. They both said they ended up in a taxi where a man raped them.

Shorten denied the rape allegations and said he had consensual sexual contact with both women, initiated by them. When Shorten’s statement was read to them by his defence lawyer, both adamantly denied consenting to the sex.

In her statement, the first woman said she drank five pints of cider on the evening of June 25, 2022, an amount she was not used to.

She described gaps in her memory of her journey home, recalling waking up in the early hours of the morning in the passenger seat of a car driven by a man. She said she felt very lightheaded and her eyes were heavy. She said the man took her to the back seat, where he raped her anally and vaginally. When he was finished, the man returned to the driver’s seat and then dropped her off near her home.

Under cross-examination, she acknowledged that there were problems with her memory of that night, but strongly refuted the defence’s claim that she had been involved in consensual sexual activity with Shorten. The second woman described going out for a drink in Dublin city centre on 8 August 2022. She was due to stay at a friend’s house but decided to take a taxi home as she was tired and drunk.

She fell asleep in the back of a taxi and said the next thing she remembered was waking up to the taxi driver raping her. She said she was in shock and didn’t know how to defend herself. Afterward, he took her home and asked her for the fare. She got a charger from the house as her phone was dead and went back to the taxi to charge it.

One of her parents later paid the fare in cash. During her testimony, the woman became angry as she recounted how she returned to her house and her parents asked her questions. She said she burst into tears and told them what had happened.

Under cross-examination, she refuted the defense’s claim that there was mutual kissing and then consensual sexual activity. Her mother said she was surprised when her daughter came home that evening. She said her daughter was upset and crying when the taxi drove off and she noticed that the zipper of her jeans was unzipped.

Her daughter told her a few minutes later that the taxi driver had raped her. The woman’s mother became visibly emotional during her testimony and recalled the response, “like him?” She said she was shocked and thought she was going to be sick.

Shorten did not testify during the trial. Instead, the jury was read two written statements he made on separate days after his arrest. He claimed that the sexual acts he engaged in with the women in his taxi were consensual and initiated by them.

In her closing argument, Ms Small said it was “inherently unlikely” that two young women would make similar allegations against the same man within a relatively short period of time. She said Shorten’s account was “ridiculous” and a “farce”.

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