I am of the belief prosecuting one soldier is nothing short of throwing soldier F under the bus.
Bloody Sunday was nothing short of a massacre.
However the problem is when you are in a place when the situation can change in a split second you have to think in a split second, make a judgement call in a split second. It's kill or be killed. When you are watching, and suddenly you hear shots fired that's it, your not going to think one of your muckers has fired a round off randomly for no reason, you look left you look right you see everyone with raised rifles. Then you look front and there it is, running, chaos, projectiles, suddenly more shots fired. In the echo chamber of a built up area it's hard to immediately understand where shots have come from, all you know right now is shots fired, civil unrest ahead. In that split second the enemy is ahead, then the inevitable "open fire".
Paras are not programmed like your usually green fleet. They are trained to be dropped behind enemy lines, neutralise an enemy at any cost and carry out the objective. People always say there is an arrogance about them, that they always believe they are the best. Well they've been practically brainwashed in depo to this point. Stripped of names called nothing but "Joe" they are a number, they chant "what makes the grass grow? blood blood blood." Shouted at "it pays to be a winner Joe" . Basically their not renowned for their diplomacy and leeniancy when it comes to "the enemy".
This is the same regiment that some decade later were hailed heroes for their work in the Falklands, they hardly skipped through the island requesting to make daisy chains with Argentine Army as a peace offering!
I think what needs to be looked at, is not the actions of one soldier but the powers that be that decided the parachute regiment, and in particular that unit which had a reputation, why they were even placed anywhere near a civil rights march? It was tactically completely the wrong call, and the outcome I think sadly was inevitable.