How the Legal Case of an Army Veteran Over Bloody Sunday Concluded in Not Guilty Verdict
Sunday 30 January 1972 remains among the most fatal – and momentous – dates in three decades of violence in this area.
Throughout the area where it happened – the memories of Bloody Sunday are painted on the walls and etched in public consciousness.
A public gathering was held on a wintry, sunny afternoon in Derry.
The demonstration was a protest against the practice of imprisonment without charges – detaining individuals without due process – which had been established after multiple years of violence.
Soldiers from the Parachute Regiment shot dead thirteen individuals in the Bogside area – which was, and remains, a predominantly republican population.
A specific visual became especially memorable.
Pictures showed a religious figure, the priest, displaying a bloodied white handkerchief while attempting to shield a group transporting a youth, the fatally wounded individual, who had been killed.
Journalists recorded much footage on the day.
Documented accounts contains Fr Daly informing a journalist that military personnel "gave the impression they would discharge weapons randomly" and he was "absolutely certain" that there was no reason for the gunfire.
The narrative of what happened was rejected by the first inquiry.
The Widgery Tribunal concluded the military had been shot at first.
During the negotiation period, Tony Blair's government commissioned a fresh examination, following pressure by family members, who said the initial inquiry had been a whitewash.
In 2010, the report by the investigation said that overall, the paratroopers had fired first and that not one of the victims had posed any threat.
The contemporary head of state, the Prime Minister, expressed regret in the House of Commons – saying deaths were "unjustified and inexcusable."
Law enforcement started to investigate the events.
An ex-soldier, referred to as Soldier F, was charged for killing.
Accusations were made over the fatalities of one victim, 22, and 26-year-old another victim.
Soldier F was further implicated of attempting to murder Patrick O'Donnell, additional persons, Joe Mahon, another person, and an unnamed civilian.
There is a judicial decision protecting the soldier's anonymity, which his legal team have argued is essential because he is at danger.
He stated to the examination that he had only fired at individuals who were armed.
That claim was rejected in the final report.
Information from the examination could not be used immediately as testimony in the court case.
During the trial, the veteran was hidden from public with a blue curtain.
He made statements for the initial occasion in court at a session in December 2024, to answer "innocent" when the allegations were presented.
Family members of those who were killed on that day made the trip from Londonderry to Belfast Crown Court every day of the trial.
One relative, whose relative was died, said they understood that hearing the trial would be difficult.
"I remember everything in my mind's eye," he said, as we visited the main locations discussed in the case – from the location, where Michael was shot dead, to the nearby the area, where the individual and William McKinney were died.
"It reminds me to where I was that day.
"I helped to carry the victim and lay him in the vehicle.
"I relived the entire event during the testimony.
"But even with enduring all that – it's still valuable for me."