How this Trial of an Army Veteran Regarding the 1972 Londonderry Incident Concluded in Acquittal
Sunday 30 January 1972 stands as one of the deadliest – and momentous – dates in thirty years of violence in the region.
Within the community where events unfolded – the images of that fateful day are displayed on the walls and embedded in people's minds.
A civil rights march was organized on a cold but bright day in Londonderry.
The march was challenging the practice of internment – imprisoning people without legal proceedings – which had been put in place following multiple years of unrest.
Military personnel from the specialized division shot dead multiple civilians in the neighborhood – which was, and still is, a strongly republican population.
One image became notably prominent.
Photographs showed a clergyman, Fr Edward Daly, using a bloodied fabric while attempting to protect a crowd moving a teenager, the injured teenager, who had been fatally wounded.
Media personnel recorded much footage on the day.
The archive includes the priest telling a reporter that military personnel "gave the impression they would shoot indiscriminately" and he was "absolutely certain" that there was no provocation for the gunfire.
This account of events was rejected by the original examination.
The first investigation concluded the soldiers had been fired upon initially.
During the peace process, Tony Blair's government set up a fresh examination, following pressure by surviving kin, who said the initial inquiry had been a inadequate investigation.
That year, the report by Lord Saville said that overall, the military personnel had discharged weapons initially and that zero among the individuals had posed any threat.
The then head of state, the leader, apologised in the Parliament – declaring deaths were "unjustified and unacceptable."
Authorities began to examine the events.
A military veteran, known as Soldier F, was prosecuted for murder.
He was charged regarding the deaths of the first individual, in his twenties, and in his mid-twenties another victim.
The accused was additionally charged of seeking to harm multiple individuals, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon, Michael Quinn, and an unknown person.
There is a judicial decision preserving the defendant's identity protection, which his legal team have claimed is essential because he is at risk of attack.
He testified the examination that he had only fired at individuals who were armed.
The statement was rejected in the final report.
Information from the investigation was unable to be used immediately as proof in the criminal process.
In court, the accused was screened from view behind a blue curtain.
He made statements for the initial occasion in the hearing at a session in that month, to reply "not guilty" when the accusations were presented.
Relatives of the victims on that day journeyed from Derry to the judicial building daily of the trial.
One relative, whose brother Michael was killed, said they understood that hearing the trial would be difficult.
"I can see everything in my recollection," the relative said, as we examined the main locations referenced in the trial – from the street, where his brother was fatally wounded, to the nearby Glenfada Park, where James Wray and William McKinney were died.
"It reminds me to my position that day.
"I helped to carry Michael and put him in the medical transport.
"I relived the entire event during the proceedings.
"But even with having to go through everything – it's still valuable for me."