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Sunday 30 January 1972 stands as arguably the most fatal – and momentous – days throughout multiple decades of violence in the region.

In the streets where events unfolded – the images of that fateful day are visible on the buildings and etched in collective memory.

A protest demonstration was held on a wintry, sunny period in the city.

The demonstration was opposing the practice of detention without trial – imprisoning people without legal proceedings – which had been put in place after multiple years of unrest.

Soldiers from the specialized division shot dead thirteen individuals in the neighborhood – which was, and still is, a strongly nationalist area.

A particular photograph became notably memorable.

Pictures showed a religious figure, the priest, displaying a stained with blood white handkerchief while attempting to defend a crowd moving a teenager, the injured teenager, who had been mortally injured.

News camera operators documented considerable film on the day.

Documented accounts includes the priest telling a media representative that troops "gave the impression they would fire in all directions" and he was "completely sure" that there was no justification for the discharge of weapons.

That version of the incident wasn't accepted by the original examination.

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

Throughout the peace process, Tony Blair's government commissioned another inquiry, after campaigning by surviving kin, who said Widgery had been a cover-up.

That year, the report by Lord Saville said that on balance, the paratroopers had discharged weapons initially and that not one of the casualties had posed any threat.

The contemporary Prime Minister, David Cameron, expressed regret in the House of Commons – saying deaths were "unjustified and inexcusable."

The police began to examine the matter.

A military veteran, known as the accused, was prosecuted for murder.

Indictments were filed regarding the killings of James Wray, in his twenties, and twenty-six-year-old the second individual.

Soldier F was additionally charged of attempting to murder several people, Joseph Friel, more people, an additional individual, and an unknown person.

There is a legal order preserving the veteran's privacy, which his attorneys have argued is required because he is at danger.

He stated to the Saville Inquiry that he had only fired at people who were possessing firearms.

The statement was disputed in the concluding document.

Material from the investigation could not be used directly as evidence in the criminal process.

In the dock, the accused was hidden from public using a blue curtain.

He spoke for the first time in court at a proceeding in December 2024, to reply "not guilty" when the charges were put to him.

Relatives of those who were killed on that day journeyed from Londonderry to the judicial building each day of the proceedings.

John Kelly, whose relative was died, said they understood that attending the proceedings would be painful.

"I remember the events in my memory," the relative said, as we examined the primary sites mentioned in the trial – from Rossville Street, where Michael was fatally wounded, to the adjacent the area, where James Wray and William McKinney were killed.

"It reminds me to my location that day.

"I participated in moving the victim and put him in the ambulance.

"I relived the entire event during the evidence.

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