Miriam Lord: Shorten in the dock a dumpy, dangerous, remorseless monster

The convicted rapist didn’t have the guts to look at his victim.

The soon-to-be sentenced serial rapist didn’t have the guts to look at anyone.

Just a dumpy little aul fella in a courtroom-clean white shirt and navy polka dot tie, with his head hung low and a hangdog expression on his pink-flushed face.

This depraved man who preyed on the vulnerable, looking sorry for himself as he was put away for a very long time. Still not admitting his crimes, still trying to blame his innocent victims – a dangerous, deluded, remorseless liar.

He made them suffer in his perverted way to the very last, choosing to put them through the added trauma of a jury trial.

Naturally, he didn’t have the guts to give evidence himself.

After sentence was passed, Raymond Shorten picked up the dark suit jacket he brought with him to look the part in the dock. But when he stood, he was wearing a pair of grubby, ill-fitting jeans.

He couldn’t even dress himself properly for court.

Before Thursday’s hearing began, people who attended his recent trials for raping a child in 2010 and the rape of two women on separate occasions 12 years later told us how quiet and nondescript he is, as if to dampen expectations of what an evil sexual predator should look like.

The 50-year-old father of seven didn’t look like a monster.

But then, they never do.

But he is one.

And now he will serve 30 years behind bars for his vile offences.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott did the State some service when he sentenced the Dublin taxi driver to a total of 17 years for raping two defenceless women – barely out of their teens – who had trusted him to take them home after a night out.

He ordered that this time be served on top of the 13-year sentence imposed on him on Monday by Judge Kerida Naidoo for the rape of a seven-year-old girl in her grandmother’s house shortly after her mother’s death. He raped the child on another occasion after that and also sexually assaulted her.

It was just after 11am in the Central Criminal Court when Shorten’s case was called. A door in the side panelling opened and the serial rapist, watched by prison officers, took his seat alone in the dock. He immediately bowed his head and stayed like that for almost all of the proceedings.

One of his brave victims sat in the body of the court, surrounded by her family. She listened intently as the judgment was read, sometimes resting her chin on her hand as the horrific detail of the ordeal she suffered at the hands of her unrepentant attacker was outlined once more.

He might have been afraid to look at her. She wasn’t afraid to look at him.

Paul McDermott, the presiding judge in the Central Criminal Court, prefaced his verdict with remarks about violence against women in Irish society. He is well placed to comment: during the long housekeeping list conducted at the start of the morning when the ordering of future cases came before him, rape and murder and male defendants loomed large.

He noted that the way women are encouraged or forced to remain vigilant against the threat of violence “reflects the reality that women too often become the subject of sexual or other forms of physical violence or the threat of it when they go out to simply enjoy themselves”.

“It indicates an underlying unhealthy attitude towards women and their fundamental rights in any society, if their sense of freedom and security in doing normal things is so compromised.”

Nothing new in what the judge had to say, but still depressingly necessary for him to say it.

“It is a poor reflection on the level of security and safety of women in our society who go out for an evening that the best advice on getting home safely and without fear of violent attack by a male, or without unwanted attention, is not to get a bus or walk home alone – they should of course be able to do so without fear of interference from men.”

This is why women are often advised that the reasonable option is to get a taxi. “We know of many stories of great kindness and helpfulness given on a daily basis by taxi drivers to their customers or others.”

He said Raymond Shorten’s actions represent “a gross betrayal” of that high standard of professionalism and is one of the reasons the case has resonated so much with people.

Then he outlined to the hushed courtroom what happened to the women on two nights in 2022 – one in June and the other in August.

There was a brittle, edgy atmosphere in courtroom six as he spoke. Looking around the benches at the lawyers and solicitors, the Courts Service people, gardaí and members of the media, women far outnumbered men.

It must be true when they say there is less money in crime.

The rapist sat in the courtroom, a balding, bespectacled, hunched figure. Perhaps, in a nod to his undoubted vanity, his greying hair was teased into a wispy little quiff at the front.

The judge listed the “huge effect” his crimes “carried out in the most humiliating and demeaning fashion” had on his victims.

They have suffered intrusive thoughts, nightmares, anxiety, difficulty forming relationships and trusting people and long years dominated by what this monster did to them, compounded by the long wait for a trial.

Shorten raped a child. Twelve years later “a 48-year-old man in a dominant position”, he raped again.

“He knew exactly what he was doing,” said the judge, noting his “complete absence of remorse” and rejection of the evidence. He continues to maintains he did nothing wrong and everything that happened in his taxi was all consensual.

The only time there was a flicker of awareness from this unrepentant predator was when the judge began discussing the length of sentence he was going to impose. Then his head wobbled a little.

“Both women acted with great dignity and courage,” said Paul McDermott, before delivering his verdict.

It would all amount to 30 years.

With any luck, he won’t get out until he’s 80. If ever – it’s a deservedly long stretch.

His victim put her hand over her mouth.

My God, she looked so young.

There were no cheers. No applause.

She embraced her family and left the court smiling.

We smiled back at her (for all the women who wanted to smile back at her and for her and hug her and cry with her) and she smiled back.

A beautiful, radiant smile.