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Jury must decide whether PSNI made errors in search for teenager and whether these could have contributed to his death
Jury must decide whether PSNI made errors in search for teenager and whether these could have contributed to his deathCoroner Kevin Rooney made the ruling and imposed reporting restrictions.
As Shane Lowry watches on, Donald Trump reinvents himself as champion of all things Irish‘There’s nothing wrong with the bags’: inside Dublin’s latest waste war Noah was found dead in an underground water tunnel in north Belfast in June 2020. He had left home six days earlier to meet friends, with his disappearance sparking a major search operation. The hearing was adjourned in July following three days of evidence and an “unprecedented” late night sitting.
Addressing the jury on Monday, the coroner said they must decide the case “solely on the evidence which you have seen and heard in court”. He told them “you are absolutely under no pressure of time”. Ten questions have been presented to jurors on which they must reach a unanimous verdict. Among the questions they must consider is the date of Noah’s death and whether any errors made by police contributed to his death.
The St Malachy’s College pupil had cycled across the city from his home in south Belfast to the Northwood Road area of north Belfast on Sunday, June 21st, 2020. Fiona Donohoe, the mother of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe, arriving at Belfast Coroner's Court. Photograph: Mark Marlow/PA Wire He abandoned his bicycle on a pavement at Northwood Road close to waste ground where a culvert entrance to an underground water system is located.
His body was found more than 600m downstream in the tunnel. He had previously been seen falling off his bicycle, as well as discarding his clothes and cycling naked. The inquest began hearing evidence in late January and was expected to last until Easter. It has heard evidence from 76 witnesses, statements from a further 42 people, as well as maps, video footage, photographs, police logs and expert reports.
Adjourning the hearing in July, the coroner warned jurors to “avoid all speculation and rumour”, particularly on social media, as they were “still in deliberation”. In his lengthy summing up of the case, Rooney previously said it was for the jury to decide whether PSNI errors were made in the search for the teenager and whether these could have contributed to his death.
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