Irish soldier from Derry jailed for raping woman

An Irish soldier from Londonderry has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years for raping a fellow member of the Irish Defence Forces in a Dublin hotel.

Kielan Mooney, 30, of Bloomfield Park, Derry, was convicted 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 Mooney'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.

"What happened changed my life, I wouldn't wish it on anyone," the victim had said in her impact statement.

She said telling her family she was raped was "one of the most heartbreaking experiences".

After Mooney's conviction by a jury in December, mitigating factors were supplied to the court by way of affidavits which were given as character references for Mooney.

They were supplied by relatives and friends, with some saying Mooney was a good father to his five children.

One said "his children miss him dearly", another described Mooney as "adoring" his children and said he was a "dedicated father".

On Monday, the court heard that two women - who have four children to Mooney - had also supplied statements to the court stating that their children had no contact with Mooney and had not for quite some time.

One of the mothers said that after the pair had broken up, Mooney did not maintain any contact with them.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, the mother said she reached out to him again but that, after a short time, their child did not want to see Mooney as he was "always letting them down" and contact stopped fully in 2022.

The second woman said her two children had not seen their father in two years.

She said he had "never paid child maintenance" and "was not a great father".

She also described how he "left one of my children sitting in playschool for 36 minutes cause he forgot to get her, twice in a row".

"I would never let him near my children now," she said.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said that there had been an attempt to "mislead" him and that he did "not take kindly" to such action.

"The thrust of both statements is the same; he has had no meaningful or positive contact with these children over a long period of time," the judge said.

He added that his duties as a father were "grossly overstated".

The judge said he would not suspend any portion of the sentence, citing the new information surrounding Mooney's relationship with his children.

"The evidence is clear" that the victim is "plainly a robust person, and could've taken disappointment in the ordinary way without resulting in false allegations", he added.

"It is quite clear in her demeanour in the aftermath, what happened was radically wrong."

He added that Mooney had not shown any sign of regret or acknowledgement of the conviction to the court.

The Irish Defence Forces confirmed that Mooney's pay had been stopped and his commanding officer had initiated proceedings to discharge him from the army.

A spokesperson said the defence forces unequivocally condemned any actions by serving personnel that were contrary to military regulations or that did not "reflect our values".