Raymond Shorten: Dublin taxi driver’s rapist was a Facebook nerd who complained about ‘terrible’ taxis

Rapist Raymond Shorten (50), of Melrose Crescent, Clondalkin, Dublin, will be sentenced next month after being found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court today of two counts of rape and one count of anal rape.

In the years before and after the rape of two women in his taxi, he regularly ranted on social media about safety problems in taxis, homosexuals and refugees.

Despite his own future actions, Shorten used Facebook to warn the public about other taxi drivers on the city’s streets.

After the Gardai issued a warning in 2016 about a “bogus taxi” being stopped by DMR Traffic, he wrote:

“Not properly regulated.

“No checkpoints and even we drivers have seen many scary taxis, but there is nothing we can do about it.”

In another story on January 18, 2021, about Gardai attempting to contact a taxi driver in the Killinarden area of ​​Tallaght, Shorten quipped: “Jesus Christ, they’ve narrowed it down… there are hundreds of Toyota Prius taxis… why don’t they contact the Tallaght taxis… the cars are tracked with their journey history.”

In a more recent Sunday World article from July 2022, Shorten made a long and confusing statement about how refugees from 20 countries – excluding Ukraine – would need visas to enter Ireland.

“Yes, sure, we have people of every nationality here now, but why not give them a taxi to ride while you’re at it,” he raged.

“There are people who work their hearts out without seeing their own children and make them pay exorbitant rents.

“It’s not our problem, so I’m sorry there’s trouble, but enough is enough.”

However, it was not just the standards in his own industry that got rapist Shorten riled up.

In a June 2015 article in the Irish Independent about how teachers were “still afraid of being fired for being gay,” crank Shorten wrote: “I won’t say anything if they’re a lesbian.”

He also commented on Al Porter after a story appeared in 2019 saying the comedian had gone without a trial after charges of sexually abusing a young man at a Dublin venue were dropped.

Shorten’s response was: “It’s about time… without a doubt… what a great guy. I’m so happy for him.”

He even had an opinion on Rio Ferdinand after the footballer was viciously taunted by cruel Chelsea Football Club fans over the death of his wife in May 2015.

Shorten posted: “They should be locked up…the woman did nothing against them…hate Chelsea.”

Shorten has since been remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced after his six-day trial on July 1.

The prosecution argued that the two young women ended up in a taxi after a sociable night in Dublin city centre and were raped by the driver, Shorten.

In her opening statement, senior prosecutor Gerardine Small said the charges were that each of the two women found themselves in a taxi after a night out in Dublin city centre in the summer of 2022 and were raped by Shorten.

Although the two women do not know each other, there were some similarities between them and their statements 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 had both been drinking and meeting friends on the nights in question. They both said they ended up in a taxi where they were raped by a man.

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. She remembered 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 dizzy and her eyes were heavy.

She said the man took her to the back seat where he raped her anally and vaginally. She said it was very painful and she kept passing out.

When he was finished, the man got back in the driver’s seat and dropped her off near her house.

He had pleaded not guilty and stated that the sexual interactions between him and each woman were consensual.

But the jury did not accept Shorten’s version of events and, after 76 minutes of deliberation, found him guilty on all three counts.