Family of convicted rapist say Brian Tierney was ‘misled’ into providing court reference

The family of an Irish solider who was jailed for raping a fellow member of the Irish Defence Forces in a Dublin hotel has released a statement through solicitors saying SDLP councillor Brian Tierney who provided a court reference was “misled”.

Kielan Mooney, of Bloomfield Park, Derry, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison following a trial at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court last December of the rape of the woman in July 2021.

The judge refused to suspend any portion of the 30-year-old’s sentence after two former partners came forward to contradict testimonials given in his favour at a sentencing hearing.

The victim said Mooney’s actions had taken a serious toll on her mental health and had left her feeling suicidal.

Former Mayor of Derry Tierney, who was the party’s group leader on the council, has been heavily criticised for providing Mooney with a reference.

On Monday, Mr Tierney stood down with the party saying his actions “were entirely wrong and he has accepted he made a grave error of judgment”.

An SDLP spokesperson added: “There is no excuse for giving a character reference for any case involving a crime of this nature.

“The SDLP supports the removal of the use of character references in courts, particularly in cases involving gender-based violence.”

Now, Madden & Finucane Solicitors has released a statement on behalf of the Mooney family.

It states: “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.

“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.”

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