🔗 Share this article

January 30th, 1972 remains one of the deadliest – and consequential – occasions throughout multiple decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Throughout the area where it happened – the memories of that fateful day are painted on the walls and etched in public consciousness.

A civil rights march was conducted on a wintry, sunny afternoon in the city.

The demonstration was opposing the system of internment – detaining individuals without trial – which had been established after an extended period of violence.

Soldiers from the elite army unit shot dead multiple civilians in the neighborhood – which was, and continues to be, a strongly nationalist population.

A particular photograph became especially memorable.

Images showed a clergyman, Father Daly, displaying a bloodied white handkerchief while attempting to defend a crowd carrying a youth, the injured teenager, who had been fatally wounded.

News camera operators recorded considerable film on the day.

Documented accounts includes Fr Daly telling a journalist that troops "gave the impression they would shoot indiscriminately" and he was "totally convinced" that there was no justification for the discharge of weapons.

This account of the incident was disputed by the first inquiry.

The first investigation determined the Army had been fired upon initially.

Throughout the peace process, the ruling party set up another inquiry, following pressure by surviving kin, who said the first investigation had been a cover-up.

In 2010, the findings by the investigation said that overall, the military personnel had initiated shooting and that none of the casualties had been armed.

The then government leader, David Cameron, expressed regret in the House of Commons – saying killings were "without justification and unjustifiable."

Law enforcement began to look into the incident.

One former paratrooper, known as the accused, was brought to trial for murder.

Indictments were filed regarding the deaths of one victim, in his twenties, and twenty-six-year-old the second individual.

The accused was further implicated of seeking to harm Patrick O'Donnell, additional persons, further individuals, an additional individual, and an unknown person.

Remains a judicial decision maintaining the soldier's privacy, which his lawyers have argued is essential because he is at risk of attack.

He stated to the examination that he had solely shot at persons who were armed.

This assertion was dismissed in the final report.

Material from the inquiry could not be used straightforwardly as proof in the legal proceedings.

In court, the defendant was hidden from public behind a privacy screen.

He made statements for the first time in the hearing at a session in December 2024, to reply "innocent" when the charges were presented.

Relatives of the deceased on the incident journeyed from the city to the judicial building each day of the case.

One relative, whose sibling was fatally wounded, said they always knew that hearing the proceedings would be painful.

"I visualize all details in my mind's eye," the relative said, as we walked around the main locations referenced in the case – from the street, where the victim was fatally wounded, to the adjacent the area, where one victim and the second person were died.

"It returns me to my location that day.

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

"I went through each detail during the evidence.

"Notwithstanding enduring the process – it's still valuable for me."