Derry councillor who gave reference for convicted rapist 'misled'

The family of an Irish soldier who was convicted of rape have confirmed that the Derry councillor who provided a character reference in his defence had been 'misled'.

Kielan Mooney (30), of Bloomfield Park in Derry, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years earlier this month for raping a woman who was a fellow soldier in the Irish Defence Forces.

The offences happened in a Dublin hotel in July 2021. The victim said Mooney's actions had left her feeling suicidal.

SDLP councillor Brian Tierney described the reference as a "grave error of judgement" on his part.

Cllr Tierney said he had been misled before rescinding the reference once the full nature of the case had come to light.

The former Mayor of Derry has since stepped aside from the SDLP and will continue to sit on Derry and Strabane District Council as an independent. Cllr Tierney's membership of the party has also been suspended pending an internal review of the wider provision around references.

In a statement to UTV, Mooney's family said Cllr Tierney was asked to provide the reference but wasn’t told it related to a pending criminal charge and wasn’t told about the seriousness of those charges.

“We wish to put on record some important information in relation to media comment concerning the court case and conviction of our family member - in particular in relation to a character reference provided by Councillor Brian Tierney," their statement said.

“As a family we believe it is important to confirm and clarify the full circumstances in which Councillor Tierney provided this reference.

“Councillor Tierney provided a character reference at the request of our family – he wasn’t told that it related to a pending criminal charge and wasn’t told about the seriousness of those charges.

“The truth is that Councillor Brian Tierney was misled into giving this character reference – and we fully apologise to him and his family.

“As has already been stated publicly, once Councillor Tierney was eventually made aware of the seriousness of the criminal charges in this case, he withdrew the character reference.

“We accept full responsibility and apologise for our part in asking for a character reference without Councillor Tierney being aware of the full facts and the full information. We deeply regret this and regret the impact this decision has had.”

Meanwhile, SDLP leader Claire Hanna said her party had "responded very quickly" to the issue.

"We equivocated in no way about the mistake that Brian Tierney made," she said.

"We triggered our internal processes, responded very quickly about the seriousness of the allegation and Brian is no longer an SDLP councillor."