The increasingly bitter battle between convicted rapist Peter Stewart’s family and supporters of his victim has stepped up, with his backers issuing a press release today defending their actions.

Stewart, the son of Christchurch plastics magnate Sir Robertson Stewart and husband of New Zealand Fashion Week owner Pieter Stewart, was jailed in February for three years.

Last December, he was convicted on five charges of indecency with a girl, and one count of sodomy and one of rape. The offenses occurred about 40 years ago.

The family has hired a private detective to continue investigating in an attempt to upset the guilty verdicts against Stewart, a move that has been criticized by supporters of the complainant who has name suppression.

In a press release today the Stewart family said it had it decided to speak out publicly because of “countless slurs” leveled at the wider family by some members of the complainant’s family.

“We have sat quietly and resisted the temptation to express our views but we have lost patience particularly with one member of the claimant’s family…” the Stewart family said.

“This person chooses to hide behind name suppression orders to take pot shots at us.”

The Stewarts said they had never wavered from their united support for Peter Stewart.

“The family has a right to seek justice - justice that even members of the claimants family believes needs to be done.”

“The conviction against Peter is based on claims that allegedly occurred 40 years ago. These claims only surfaced when the claimant was facing financial difficulty. The Stewart family makes no apology for fighting to clear the name of one of its family members.”