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January 30th, 1972 is remembered as among the most fatal – and significant – occasions during thirty years of unrest in Northern Ireland.

In the streets where it happened – the memories of that fateful day are visible on the buildings and etched in public consciousness.

A public gathering was organized on a cold but bright afternoon in Londonderry.

The demonstration was challenging the policy of imprisonment without charges – detaining individuals without legal proceedings – which had been established following an extended period of violence.

Soldiers from the specialized division killed 13 people in the Bogside area – which was, and continues to be, a strongly nationalist community.

A particular photograph became notably memorable.

Pictures showed a religious figure, Fr Edward Daly, displaying a blood-stained white handkerchief in his effort to protect a assembly carrying a young man, the injured teenager, who had been mortally injured.

Media personnel documented extensive video on the day.

The archive contains Fr Daly informing a reporter that military personnel "gave the impression they would discharge weapons randomly" and he was "completely sure" that there was no reason for the gunfire.

That version of events was disputed by the original examination.

The Widgery Tribunal determined the military had been shot at first.

During the resolution efforts, the ruling party established a fresh examination, in response to advocacy by surviving kin, who said Widgery had been a whitewash.

That year, the report by Lord Saville said that on balance, the soldiers had fired first and that zero among the victims had been armed.

The then Prime Minister, David Cameron, issued an apology in the Parliament – declaring fatalities were "improper and unjustifiable."

Law enforcement started to examine the matter.

A military veteran, known as the defendant, was charged for homicide.

He was charged over the fatalities of James Wray, in his twenties, and 26-year-old William McKinney.

The accused was additionally charged of trying to kill multiple individuals, other civilians, further individuals, an additional individual, and an unidentified individual.

Exists a court ruling preserving the veteran's privacy, which his lawyers have claimed is essential because he is at danger.

He stated to the examination that he had only fired at persons who were possessing firearms.

That claim was rejected in the concluding document.

Information from the examination could not be used straightforwardly as testimony in the legal proceedings.

In court, the veteran was hidden from public with a blue curtain.

He spoke for the first time in the proceedings at a hearing in December 2024, to respond "not guilty" when the allegations were presented.

Kin of the deceased on that day journeyed from the city to the courthouse every day of the trial.

One relative, whose relative was killed, said they were aware that attending the trial would be emotional.

"I can see all details in my memory," he said, as we walked around the primary sites mentioned in the case – from the location, where Michael was shot dead, to the nearby the courtyard, where the individual and William McKinney were killed.

"It even takes me back to where I was that day.

"I helped to carry Michael and put him in the ambulance.

"I went through each detail during the evidence.

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