A taxi driver who targeted vulnerable women on their way home at night has been sentenced to 17 years for raping two young women.
Raymond Shorten (50) from Melrose Crescent, Clondalkin in Dublin, was also sentenced this week to 13 years in jail for raping a seven-year-old girl twice 10 years previously.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott ruled the sentences should run consecutively, meaning Shorten will be jailed for 30 years in total.
Two incidents took place in 2022, in June then in August.
Both women had been working, socialising and drinking in the city centre. Each found themselves in a taxi driven by the accused while on their way home from their night out and each said they were raped by him.
The court heard Shorten preyed on their incapacity.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said Shorten’s actions were a gross betrayal of trust.
He noted Shorten had gone on “in knowledge that he committed rape offences against a child” to identify two further victims and repeat his offence “without compunction or hesitation”.
The judge in the case relating to 2012 said the fact Shorten had raped the young child on the day of her mother’s funeral showed he was utterly lacking in compassion and did not care about the hurt, violation and long-term suffering he had inflicted on her.
The father of seven had denied all allegations, but was found guilty by separate jury trials.
