Rapist taxi driver allowed to attack women despite previous convictions

DUBLIN, Ireland – Taxi driver Raymond Shorten, who was proven to be a rapist, was allowed to continue harassing women as a taxi driver because his previous convictions for sex offenses were not “serious” enough, the Irish Mirror reported on Sunday.

Shorten, 50, will be sentenced later this month after being convicted of raping two young women in June and August 2022.

Shorten, from Melrose Crescent in Dublin, preyed on young women who were drunk after a night of drinking.

The Central Criminal Court learned that he had been convicted of other serious sexual offences. Details of these offences cannot be disclosed in order to protect the identity of the victim.

It raised questions about why Shorten was not disqualified from being registered as a Small Public Service Vehicle (SPSV), which requires Garda approval.

According to the Irish Mirror, Shorten’s previous offences did not meet the minimum requirements of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013 for revocation of an SPSV licence.

According to Rachel Morrogh, executive director of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, the apparent flaw in the system is a cause for great concern.

She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “It is quite disturbing that Raymond Shorten was convicted of a sex offence in the past and was still driving his taxi and picking up passengers from people who mistakenly believed his taxi was the safest way home.

“Although we do not know what sexual offence he was previously convicted of, it was reported in court that it was a ‘serious’ sexual offence.

“The taxi regulator must address essential and urgent issues because the legislation provides that certain convictions, including sexual offences, necessarily lead to the withdrawal of a driver’s licence for small public vehicles.

Vile Shorten, a former milkman, denied the allegations and claimed that the sexual activities between both women, aged 19 and 20, were consensual.

Prosecutor Geraldine Small told the Central Criminal Court that the charges warranted a prison sentence of 10 to 15 years.

She claimed that Shorten exploited his victims and, in the case of the first young woman, it was obvious that he was targeting her because she did not hail a taxi.

Earlier this week, Social Democrat leader Holly Cairns raised the issue in the Dáil, calling it “every woman’s worst nightmare.”

She explained: “A convicted sex offender working as a taxi driver is every woman’s worst nightmare.”

“Women who take a taxi at night do so not only to get home, but also to get there safely.”

“However, ladies who boarded Shorten’s taxi became victims of a serial sex offender. Two of them were subsequently violently attacked and raped. This situation is of considerable concern to the National Transport Authority.

“And most importantly, why did Shorten, who was convicted of sex offences, have a taxi licence?”