How the Legal Case of an Army Veteran Regarding the 1972 Londonderry Incident Ended in Not Guilty Verdict
January 30th, 1972 is remembered as one of the most deadly β and momentous β days in three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland.
Within the community where it happened β the memories of that fateful day are visible on the structures and seared in public consciousness.
A public gathering was conducted on a chilly yet clear afternoon in Derry.
The demonstration was a protest against the policy of internment β holding suspects without due process β which had been put in place following an extended period of violence.
Military personnel from the elite army unit killed thirteen individuals in the neighborhood β which was, and remains, a strongly Irish nationalist community.
One image became particularly prominent.
Photographs showed a clergyman, Fr Edward Daly, waving a bloodied white handkerchief as he tried to shield a crowd carrying a youth, the fatally wounded individual, who had been killed.
Media personnel captured extensive video on the day.
The archive includes Father Daly informing a reporter that troops "just seemed to discharge weapons randomly" and he was "completely sure" that there was no provocation for the shooting.
This account of the incident wasn't accepted by the original examination.
The first investigation determined the soldiers had been fired upon initially.
In the peace process, Tony Blair's government commissioned a fresh examination, in response to advocacy by family members, who said the first investigation had been a inadequate investigation.
During 2010, the conclusion by Lord Saville said that on balance, the soldiers had discharged weapons initially and that none of the victims had been armed.
The then head of state, the Prime Minister, expressed regret in the House of Commons β saying deaths were "unjustified and unjustifiable."
Authorities commenced look into the events.
An ex-soldier, referred to as the accused, was charged for homicide.
Indictments were filed regarding the deaths of one victim, twenty-two, and in his mid-twenties the second individual.
Soldier F was further implicated of seeking to harm multiple individuals, additional persons, Joe Mahon, another person, and an unidentified individual.
There is a legal order maintaining the soldier's privacy, which his legal team have claimed is essential because he is at risk of attack.
He told the Saville Inquiry that he had solely shot at people who were carrying weapons.
That claim was rejected in the official findings.
Material from the investigation would not be used straightforwardly as testimony in the legal proceedings.
In the dock, the accused was shielded from sight with a blue curtain.
He spoke for the initial occasion in the proceedings at a hearing in late 2024, to respond "innocent" when the accusations were read.
Family members of those who were killed on Bloody Sunday made the trip from Londonderry to the courthouse each day of the trial.
John Kelly, whose brother Michael was fatally wounded, said they understood that hearing the case would be painful.
"I visualize everything in my mind's eye," John said, as we examined the main locations discussed in the case β from the location, where his brother was killed, to the adjoining the courtyard, where James Wray and another victim were died.
"It reminds me to my position that day.
"I helped to carry Michael and lay him in the medical transport.
"I experienced again each detail during the evidence.
"But even with enduring everything β it's still meaningful for me."