Taxi driver found guilty of rape of two women

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A taxi driver was found guilty by a jury of all three rape charges involving two women. The proceedings were reported on 14 June 2024.

He had denied the charges. He told gardaí that the women had initiated the interactions and that the encounters were consensual.

The incidents took place separately in Dublin in June and August 2022. Both women said they were raped after getting into a taxi driven by the accused while travelling home from nights out.

The first woman told the court she had been very drunk and was drifting in and out of consciousness. The second said she had fallen asleep in the taxi and woke to find the driver on top of her. She said she was sore and in shock.

Defence counsel Lorcan Staines asked the jury to give the accused the benefit of the doubt if they accepted his account was reasonably possible. The court also heard evidence from three other women who said they had consensual sex with him on other occasions.

The jury began deliberating on 13 June and returned unanimous guilty verdicts after a total of 76 minutes. The man was remanded in custody and was due to be sentenced on 1 July 2024.