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Sunday 30 January 1972 remains among the most deadly – and momentous – days throughout multiple decades of conflict in the region.

Within the community where it happened – the images of that fateful day are painted on the walls and embedded in collective memory.

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

The demonstration was opposing the practice of imprisonment without charges – holding suspects without due process – which had been put in place in response to an extended period of violence.

Military personnel from the Parachute Regiment shot dead multiple civilians in the Bogside area – which was, and continues to be, a strongly nationalist population.

One image became notably memorable.

Photographs showed a clergyman, Fr Edward Daly, waving a bloodied white handkerchief in his effort to defend a crowd carrying a teenager, the injured teenager, who had been fatally wounded.

News camera operators captured extensive video on the day.

Documented accounts includes Father Daly telling a media representative that military personnel "just seemed to discharge weapons randomly" and he was "absolutely certain" that there was no justification for the shooting.

The narrative of the incident was disputed by the first inquiry.

The initial inquiry concluded the military had been shot at first.

Throughout the negotiation period, the ruling party established a fresh examination, in response to advocacy by bereaved relatives, who said Widgery had been a whitewash.

That year, the conclusion by Lord Saville said that on balance, the military personnel had initiated shooting and that none of the individuals had been armed.

At that time Prime Minister, the leader, apologised in the House of Commons – declaring killings were "improper and unacceptable."

The police began to examine the incident.

An ex-soldier, known as the accused, was brought to trial for homicide.

He was charged concerning the deaths of the first individual, twenty-two, and 26-year-old William McKinney.

The accused was further implicated of attempting to murder multiple individuals, other civilians, more people, another person, and an unnamed civilian.

Remains a court ruling maintaining the veteran's identity protection, which his legal team have maintained is necessary because he is at danger.

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

This assertion was rejected in the final report.

Evidence from the examination was unable to be used straightforwardly as testimony in the legal proceedings.

In court, the accused was screened from view with a blue curtain.

He spoke for the initial occasion in the hearing at a hearing in December 2024, to respond "not responsible" when the accusations were presented.

Family members of the deceased on that day journeyed from Derry to Belfast Crown Court each day of the case.

A family member, whose sibling was killed, said they were aware that attending the trial would be difficult.

"I remember the events in my mind's eye," he said, as we walked around the primary sites referenced in the trial – from Rossville Street, where the victim was killed, to the nearby the courtyard, where the individual and the second person were died.

"It reminds me to my location that day.

"I participated in moving Michael and place him in the medical transport.

"I went through the entire event during the testimony.

"Despite enduring all that – it's still meaningful for me."