The family of a convicted rapist from Derry say a former SDLP councillor was “misled” into providing him with a character reference.
In a statement, relatives of Irish soldier Kielan Mooney said they “fully apologise” to Brian Tierney and his family.
Mooney (30), of Bloomfield Park in Derry, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years earlier this month for raping a fellow member of the Irish Defence Forces.
Mr Tierney, a former mayor of Derry & Strabane, last week apologised for providing a court reference for Mooney.
He resigned from the SDLP on Monday “after reflecting on the situation”, describing the reference for his former neighbour as a “huge error of judgement”.
Mr Tierney said he was “not aware of the details of the charges” when he wrote the reference – and withdrew it when he realised.
In the statement issued through a solicitor, the Mooney family said that “the truth is that councillor Brian Tierney was misled into giving this character reference”.
“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,” they 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.”
The statement added: “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.”
