How the Prosecution of an Army Veteran Over Bloody Sunday Concluded in Acquittal
Sunday 30 January 1972 is remembered as among the most deadly – and consequential – days during three decades of violence in this area.
Within the community where events unfolded – the memories of that fateful day are displayed on the walls and embedded in collective memory.
A protest demonstration was conducted on a cold but bright day in Derry.
The demonstration was opposing the practice of detention without trial – imprisoning people without legal proceedings – which had been established in response to multiple years of conflict.
Soldiers from the Parachute Regiment fatally wounded thirteen individuals in the Bogside area – which was, and remains, a strongly Irish nationalist population.
A specific visual became especially prominent.
Photographs showed a religious figure, Father Daly, using a stained with blood cloth while attempting to protect a assembly transporting a teenager, Jackie Duddy, who had been mortally injured.
Journalists documented considerable film on the day.
Documented accounts contains the priest telling a reporter that soldiers "gave the impression they would fire in all directions" and he was "completely sure" that there was no provocation for the discharge of weapons.
This account of the incident wasn't accepted by the first inquiry.
The Widgery Tribunal concluded the soldiers had been fired upon initially.
Throughout the peace process, Tony Blair's government established another inquiry, following pressure by bereaved relatives, who said the first investigation had been a inadequate investigation.
During 2010, the findings by the inquiry said that on balance, the paratroopers had initiated shooting and that not one of the victims had posed any threat.
The contemporary government leader, David Cameron, issued an apology in the government chamber – declaring fatalities were "without justification and unjustifiable."
Authorities commenced investigate the incident.
A military veteran, known as Soldier F, was prosecuted for killing.
Indictments were filed over the deaths of the first individual, 22, and twenty-six-year-old the second individual.
Soldier F was further implicated of seeking to harm Patrick O'Donnell, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon, another person, and an unknown person.
Exists a court ruling protecting the veteran's identity protection, which his lawyers have maintained is necessary because he is at threat.
He told the Saville Inquiry that he had exclusively discharged his weapon at individuals who were possessing firearms.
The statement was disputed in the concluding document.
Material from the examination could not be used straightforwardly as evidence in the criminal process.
In court, the veteran was hidden from public behind a protective barrier.
He made statements for the opening instance in the hearing at a hearing in December 2024, to answer "not responsible" when the allegations were presented.
Family members of those who were killed on Bloody Sunday made the trip from the city to the courthouse daily of the proceedings.
One relative, whose relative was killed, said they always knew that hearing the trial would be emotional.
"I remember the events in my mind's eye," he said, as we visited the main locations mentioned in the proceedings – from Rossville Street, where Michael was shot dead, to the adjacent the area, where the individual and the second person were fatally wounded.
"It reminds me to my location that day.
"I participated in moving the victim and place him in the ambulance.
"I experienced again every moment during the testimony.
"Notwithstanding having to go through everything – it's still worthwhile for me."