Noah Donohoe Inquest: Jury Shown CCTV of Schoolboy's Final Journey Through Belfast

CCTV footage was shown to the jury during the continuation of the inquest into 14-year-old Noah Donohoe's death on Tuesday afternoon. Noah was last seen on 21 June 2020 at around 5.30 p.m. on his bike. He was meeting his friends to travel to Cavehill in Belfast.

Six days later, Noah Donohoe was found lifeless in a storm drain in north Belfast. The inquest at the Belfast Coroner's Court consists of a jury of nine men and two women, and is presided by Mr. Justice Rooney as Coroner.

In a report by The Journal, the inquest was shown nine total minutes of CCTV footage showing Noah before going missing on the night of 21 June 2020. Noah is seen leaving his Fitzroy Avenue apartment block on his bike with a backpack and a helmet on. A few more CCTV clips later, Noah can be seen cycling towards the Northwood Road in north Belfast through the city centre, and before his disappearance, a footage showed Noah naked on his bike. A witness, Donna Blain, also claimed to have seen Noah that same evening picking up his bike after falling.

Accounts on Noah's Final Days

Noah's 'closest friend' at the St Malachy's College in Belfast, Charlie Rocks, also appeared at the inquest, and described Noah as 'the nicest, friendliest person, funniest person,' and that he was the 'smartest kid, he was always asking questions.'

His statement continued, 'Noah was friendly with everyone in school. I joked with him that he knew everyone in school. He wasn't the type of person to be in the popular friend group, but he knew everyone. He never mentioned to me anything about storm drains or going underground or being in tunnels. If he had been interested in these things, he would have talked about them as he would always have spoken about things that he was interested in throughout lockdown.'

Rocks also said Noah did not seem to be depressed, and told him once that he was 'feeling blue.' When asked about Noah's state of mind before his disappearance, Rocks said there was nothing worth being concerned about, save for their rather 'eccentric' conversations, which he attributed to a 'transitional period' Noah was going through.

A Mother's Despair

Noah Donohoe's mother, Fiona Donohoe, recalled the events the night Noah went missing, as shared by The Journal. According to her, she felt worried when Noah failed to check in by phone on the night of 21 June 2020, particularly since he wasn't answering her calls. By 9:45 p.m., she decided to report him missing to the police, as Noah was supposed to have been home by 8 p.m..

During the inquest, Ms. Donohoe raised questions to the police how Noah's laptop and book ended up being found in another location when he had always kept them close. According to Fiona Donohoe, the police had asked for her email address including her password—now appearing to her as an 'invasion of privacy.'

Ms. Donohoe said troubling CCTV footage, their decision not to search houses close to the storm drain, and a disturbing photo on Noah's phone have undermined her confidence in how the police have been handling the investigation.

She said, 'As a parent, I am horrified at the idea that the grill positioned at the entrance the storm drain was such that a child coming through a rear garden of a home could simply walk through a grill or open a hatch, and then access a storm drain at the back of family homes. I have no idea how Noah could have known about the storm drain location or entrance.'

The inquest is set to resume on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m..