Need to know
The long-running inquest into the death of the 14-year-old is being heard with a jury at Belfast Coroner’s Court
Fiona Donohoe (centre), the mother of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe, outside Belfast Coroner’s Court, for the inquest into his death(Image: Mark Marlow/PA Wire)
- Investigating a culvert in which Noah Donohue’s body was found after he went missing was “not a priority” during the first few days of the search for him, a police constable told the inquest this past week.
- Questioned on Tuesday by Brenda Campbell KC, counsel for Noah’s mother Fiona Donohoe, Constable George from the PSNI said searching the culvert in the first two days after Noah was reported missing was “not a priority”.
- Mr George, who was police search adviser at the time, told the inquest he arrived at Northwood Linear Park in north Belfast, near where the culvert is located, at about 11pm on June 22, the day after the teenager was reported missing. He said he walked around the park and then to the park’s gates, from which he could overlook the culvert, but did not go to the tunnel to take a closer look.
- Asked by Ms Campbell if he had thought it was worth going to the culvert then, Mr George said: “At that point no, because I wasn’t prioritising this area as part of my search.” Asked if he could see, from where he was standing at the gates, how “attractive” the culvert may have been for a child, and how “feasible” it may have been to get to the culvert, Mr George replied: “No.”
- Ms Campbell said Mr George had a conversation with Community Rescue Service regional commander Sean McCarry, during which the latter said the culvert should be searched. Asked again why he did not go to the culvert, with this conversation in mind, Mr George said: “Because I was prioritising other areas in that significant searching area. I was prioritising other areas.”
- Later on Tuesday, Mr George told the inquest he had never worked on another case involving a missing person being found in a culvert. Mr George also sais he had to bear in mind the safety of his team, as the searches were being conducted in “many dangerous areas”.
- He said he was told to prioritise searches in places missing persons were likely to be found, as part of his search and rescue training, adding that the area around Northwood Linear Park “had a great many sheds, derelict buildings, unoccupied houses, derelict houses, places where people could take shelter and conceal themselves”.
- Police investigating Noah’s death never followed up on multiple reports of noise and screaming near the culvert where his naked body was found, the inquest heard on Wednesday.
- Jurors at Belfast Coroner’s Court were told that police collected statements from only four of the seven residents who reported hearing noises – including screams – between 12 midnight and 3am on June 22, despite having a team of 25 detectives.
- The inquest also heard that one of the couples, who reported hearing three screams at around 1.30am at the back of their house in Northwood Road, were approached by police only 11 months after their initial questionnaire, by which time the elderly pair said they “did not hear any shouting”, according to a police notebook entry.
- Another resident who reported hearing “something at the front door” and a “letterbox opening and shutting” was never approached by the police for a statement, while a caller to the public appeal who said her daughter heard a scream on June 21 at around 6.25pm at Dunlambert Drive near the culvert also never gave a statement.
- The inquest heard the police logs recorded: “Caller states that her daughter was on above location at Dunlambert Drive end on Sunday evening approx 6.25pm and she heard a loud scream. She did not see anything.”
- On Thursday, the inquest heard it’s “extremely unlikely” that Noah entered the storm drain where he was found dead anywhere other than the Premier Drive stream culvert, an inquest has heard.
- Engineer and hydrologist Jeremy Benn had previously given evidence along with three other expert witnesses last month. The inquest heard all four thought it was “extremely unlikely” Noah entered the culvert system at any other point.
- Mr Benn said the alternatives were manholes, which he described as having heavy covers, designed not to be easy to lift, and if Noah had entered via a manhole the cover would have remained off. He said other parts of the watercourse were fenced off, while another section would have involved wading through deep mud, and the train depot where the section of storm drain where his body was found, is gated with 24-hour security.
- Meanwhile, the experts were at odds over whether Noah’s body would have moved in the tunnel. Mr Benn said Noah’s body could have moved a short distance downstream with the outgoing tidal flow, while the other experts felt any movement would have been short, less than a few metres.
- Mr Benn returned to the probe on Friday to give evidence around the culvert. He was instructed by the Department for Infrastructure.
- Ms Campbell put to Mr Benn that he and the company he currently works for, and was previously a director of, JBA Consulting, had a long history of working with the department. The inquest previously heard that Mr Benn was one of the authors of Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) guidelines around culverts. He has also been involved with training both department staff and consultants who work with the department on those guidelines.
- Ms Campbell also put to Mr Benn that his advice had been referred in a letter to then Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon and police following Noah’s death, and to the inquest as having approved an existing debris screen at the culvert instead of a security screen. Mr Benn said that had come from a five minute phone call with a person who had attended a training course he had led.
- Ms Campbell put to Mr Benn that either he was “underplaying his involvement or the department was overplaying his involvement”. Mr Benn responded saying he had not been given any formal instruction to review and approve.
- Pressed if the department had overplayed his involvement, Mr Benn said he didn’t feel it would have been deliberate. Asked whether a successful working relationship with the department had continued after Noah’s death, Mr Benn responded: “There is a lot of work, yes.”
- Ms Campbell asked that given that background, and that new CIRIA guidance was going to be “stress tested” for the first time in the circumstances in which a child had died, whether the department could have approached “someone more independent” for the inquest. Mr Benn responded saying that was up to the department.
- The inquest will resume on Wednesday.
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