🔗 Share this article

Sunday 30 January 1972 stands as one of the deadliest – and significant – dates throughout three decades of violence in the region.

Within the community where events unfolded – the legacy of Bloody Sunday are painted on the structures and embedded in public consciousness.

A public gathering was conducted on a chilly yet clear day in Derry.

The protest was challenging the policy of internment – detaining individuals without trial – which had been implemented after an extended period of unrest.

Soldiers from the elite army unit shot dead thirteen individuals in the neighborhood – which was, and still is, a overwhelmingly Irish nationalist population.

One image became notably memorable.

Images showed a religious figure, the priest, displaying a stained with blood white handkerchief as he tried to protect a group moving a teenager, the injured teenager, who had been killed.

Media personnel recorded extensive video on the day.

Documented accounts features the priest informing a media representative that soldiers "appeared to shoot indiscriminately" and he was "absolutely certain" that there was no provocation for the gunfire.

This account of what happened was disputed by the first inquiry.

The Widgery Tribunal found the military had been attacked first.

During the resolution efforts, the administration set up another inquiry, following pressure by bereaved relatives, who said Widgery had been a whitewash.

In 2010, the report by the inquiry said that overall, the soldiers had fired first and that zero among the victims had posed any threat.

At that time government leader, David Cameron, apologised in the House of Commons – stating fatalities were "unjustified and unjustifiable."

Law enforcement started to examine the matter.

A military veteran, identified as the defendant, was brought to trial for killing.

Accusations were made concerning the killings of one victim, 22, and in his mid-twenties the second individual.

The accused was additionally charged of attempting to murder multiple individuals, other civilians, further individuals, an additional individual, and an unknown person.

There is a court ruling preserving the soldier's identity protection, which his attorneys have maintained is essential because he is at danger.

He testified the investigation that he had solely shot at individuals who were possessing firearms.

The statement was disputed in the official findings.

Information from the examination would not be used directly as testimony in the legal proceedings.

In court, the defendant was shielded from sight using a privacy screen.

He made statements for the first time in the hearing at a hearing in late 2024, to respond "not responsible" when the allegations were read.

Kin of the victims on the incident journeyed from Derry to the judicial building each day of the trial.

One relative, whose relative was killed, said they were aware that hearing the proceedings would be painful.

"I can see the events in my memory," the relative said, as we examined the primary sites discussed in the case – from the street, where Michael was killed, to the nearby Glenfada Park, where the individual and the second person were fatally wounded.

"It returns me to my position that day.

"I assisted with Michael and lay him in the medical transport.

"I went through each detail during the evidence.

"Despite having to go through all that – it's still meaningful for me."