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Sunday 30 January 1972 is remembered as one of the most deadly – and consequential – dates in three decades of unrest in this area.

Throughout the area where it happened – the memories of that fateful day are painted on the buildings and embedded in collective memory.

A civil rights march was conducted on a cold but bright afternoon in Derry.

The protest was challenging the policy of detention without trial – detaining individuals without trial – which had been established in response to an extended period of unrest.

Soldiers from the specialized division killed 13 people in the district – which was, and remains, a strongly nationalist area.

A specific visual became especially memorable.

Photographs showed a religious figure, Fr Edward Daly, using a blood-stained cloth while attempting to shield a crowd moving a young man, the injured teenager, who had been fatally wounded.

Media personnel captured much footage on the day.

The archive features Father Daly explaining to a reporter that troops "gave the impression they would shoot indiscriminately" and he was "completely sure" that there was no justification for the shooting.

That version of what happened wasn't accepted by the initial investigation.

The initial inquiry determined the military had been fired upon initially.

During the peace process, the ruling party established another inquiry, after campaigning by family members, who said the first investigation had been a cover-up.

In 2010, the report by Lord Saville said that on balance, the military personnel had fired first and that none of the victims had presented danger.

At that time head of state, the leader, issued an apology in the House of Commons – declaring deaths were "unjustified and unjustifiable."

Law enforcement commenced investigate the matter.

An ex-soldier, known as the defendant, was prosecuted for homicide.

Accusations were made regarding the killings of one victim, twenty-two, and 26-year-old the second individual.

The defendant was additionally charged of attempting to murder several people, additional persons, more people, an additional individual, and an unknown person.

Remains a court ruling preserving the defendant's identity protection, which his legal team have maintained is essential because he is at risk of attack.

He told the investigation that he had exclusively discharged his weapon at persons who were armed.

This assertion was rejected in the final report.

Evidence from the inquiry was unable to be used directly as proof in the criminal process.

In the dock, the accused was screened from view with a privacy screen.

He made statements for the initial occasion in the hearing at a session in late 2024, to answer "not guilty" when the charges were put to him.

Kin of the victims on that day journeyed from Londonderry to the courthouse every day of the trial.

John Kelly, whose relative was fatally wounded, said they were aware that listening to the trial would be difficult.

"I visualize everything in my recollection," John said, as we walked around the key areas referenced in the case – from the location, where the victim was shot dead, to the nearby the courtyard, where one victim and William McKinney were died.

"It reminds me to where I was that day.

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

"I experienced again the entire event during the evidence.

"Notwithstanding experiencing the process – it's still meaningful for me."