The family of an Irish soldier jailed for rape has said that the former mayor of Londonderry was “misled” into providing a character reference for him.
Brian Tierney has apologised for providing the reference for Kielan Mooney, which he later withdrew.
Mooney, 31, of Bloomfield Park, Derry, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years last week at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin for raping a woman who was a fellow member of the Irish Defence Forces in 2021.
Mr Tierney, a former mayor of Derry City and Strabane, had his membership of the SDLP suspended this week and resigned the party whip.
The Mooney family released a statement through the law firm Madden and Finuncane “to put on the record some important information” relating to the reference.
The statement continued: “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.”
Mr Tierney has previously said he was not aware of the charges when he wrote the reference, and called it a “huge error of judgment”.
SDLP leader Claire Hanna defended her party’s handling of the issue earlier this week (Mark Marlow/PA)
An SDLP spokesperson said the party had nothing further to add to a statement released earlier this week when Mr Tierney resigned the party whip.
That party statement said: “We welcome Brian’s decision and his genuine desire to address the issues raised by the issuing of this character reference and his actions to reach out to those affected by this.
“We are conducting a review around the provision of references.
“Tackling violence against women and girls remains a key priority for the SDLP and our thoughts are with the victim at the centre of this case.”
Speaking at Stormont on Wednesday, SDLP leader Claire Hanna defended the party’s handling of the issue.
She said: “We equivocated in no way about the mistake that Brian Tierney made.
“We triggered our internal processes, responded very quickly about the seriousness of the allegation and Brian is no longer an SDLP councillor.”