How the Legal Case of an Army Veteran Over Bloody Sunday Ended in Case Dismissal
Sunday 30 January 1972 stands as one of the most fatal – and significant – dates in multiple decades of conflict in this area.
Within the community where it happened – the legacy of that fateful day are visible on the walls and embedded in collective memory.
A civil rights march was organized on a wintry, sunny afternoon in the city.
The protest was a protest against the system of internment – imprisoning people without legal proceedings – which had been implemented after an extended period of conflict.
Soldiers from the Parachute Regiment fatally wounded 13 people in the district – which was, and continues to be, a overwhelmingly Irish nationalist area.
A specific visual became especially iconic.
Images showed a religious figure, Father Daly, displaying a stained with blood white handkerchief in his effort to shield a assembly moving a teenager, the injured teenager, who had been mortally injured.
News camera operators captured considerable film on the day.
Historical records features the priest telling a media representative that military personnel "appeared to fire in all directions" and he was "absolutely certain" that there was no reason for the shooting.
That version of what happened wasn't accepted by the original examination.
The initial inquiry found the Army had been attacked first.
In the resolution efforts, the ruling party established a fresh examination, following pressure by family members, who said the first investigation had been a cover-up.
That year, the conclusion by the inquiry said that on balance, the paratroopers had initiated shooting and that none of the casualties had posed any threat.
The contemporary head of state, the leader, apologised in the government chamber – stating killings were "without justification and inexcusable."
Authorities commenced look into the incident.
One former paratrooper, known as the defendant, was brought to trial for killing.
Accusations were made concerning the deaths of the first individual, 22, and twenty-six-year-old William McKinney.
The defendant was further implicated of seeking to harm multiple individuals, additional persons, Joe Mahon, an additional individual, and an unidentified individual.
Remains a judicial decision maintaining the soldier's privacy, which his attorneys have argued is required because he is at danger.
He stated to the examination that he had solely shot at individuals who were armed.
This assertion was rejected in the official findings.
Information from the investigation could not be used straightforwardly as testimony in the court case.
In court, the defendant was hidden from public using a protective barrier.
He made statements for the first time in the hearing at a hearing in late 2024, to reply "innocent" when the allegations were presented.
Kin of those who were killed on Bloody Sunday made the trip from the city to the judicial building each day of the case.
A family member, whose relative was fatally wounded, said they were aware that listening to the case would be difficult.
"I visualize all details in my recollection," the relative said, as we visited the main locations discussed in the trial – from Rossville Street, where his brother was shot dead, to the adjoining Glenfada Park, where James Wray and William McKinney were fatally wounded.
"It reminds me to where I was that day.
"I participated in moving the victim and place him in the ambulance.
"I experienced again every moment during the evidence.
"Notwithstanding having to go through the process – it's still valuable for me."