How this Legal Case of a Former Soldier Over the 1972 Londonderry Incident Concluded in Not Guilty Verdict
Sunday 30 January 1972 is remembered as one of the deadliest – and consequential – dates throughout three decades of unrest in this area.
In the streets where it happened – the images of the tragic events are painted on the structures and embedded in collective memory.
A public gathering was organized on a chilly yet clear period in Derry.
The march was challenging the policy of imprisonment without charges – imprisoning people without trial – which had been put in place following an extended period of conflict.
Soldiers from the elite army unit fatally wounded thirteen individuals in the district – which was, and still is, a overwhelmingly nationalist community.
A specific visual became notably prominent.
Pictures showed a religious figure, Fr Edward Daly, displaying a bloodied cloth as he tried to defend a assembly moving a teenager, the fatally wounded individual, who had been mortally injured.
News camera operators captured extensive video on the day.
Documented accounts includes Fr Daly telling a journalist that soldiers "gave the impression they would shoot indiscriminately" and he was "totally convinced" that there was no provocation for the discharge of weapons.
That version of what happened wasn't accepted by the original examination.
The first investigation determined the soldiers had been attacked first.
During the negotiation period, the administration set up a fresh examination, following pressure by family members, who said the initial inquiry had been a inadequate investigation.
That year, the conclusion by the inquiry said that generally, the paratroopers had discharged weapons initially and that zero among the casualties had posed any threat.
At that time head of state, the leader, apologised in the House of Commons – saying deaths were "unjustified and unacceptable."
Law enforcement began to look into the matter.
An ex-soldier, identified as the accused, was charged for homicide.
He was charged over the deaths of James Wray, twenty-two, and in his mid-twenties the second individual.
The defendant was further implicated of seeking to harm Patrick O'Donnell, other civilians, Joe Mahon, Michael Quinn, and an unidentified individual.
There is a judicial decision protecting the veteran's anonymity, which his attorneys have argued is necessary because he is at threat.
He testified the examination that he had only fired at people who were carrying weapons.
This assertion was dismissed in the concluding document.
Evidence from the inquiry would not be used immediately as proof in the legal proceedings.
In court, the defendant was screened from view using a protective barrier.
He made statements for the initial occasion in the hearing at a session in December 2024, to respond "not guilty" when the allegations were put to him.
Relatives of those who were killed on Bloody Sunday travelled from the city to Belfast Crown Court daily of the case.
One relative, whose brother Michael was killed, said they understood that listening to the case would be painful.
"I can see the events in my memory," the relative said, as we visited the main locations mentioned in the case – from the street, where Michael was shot dead, to the adjacent Glenfada Park, where James Wray and another victim were fatally wounded.
"It returns me to my location that day.
"I assisted with the victim and place him in the medical transport.
"I relived the entire event during the evidence.
"But even with having to go through the process – it's still worthwhile for me."