Noah Donohoe’s ‘fingerprints’ seen on drain tunnel walls close to body – inquest

By Rebecca Black, Press Association

Marks believed to have been left by Noah Donohoe’s fingers were spotted on the walls of the storm drain tunnel close to where his body was found, an inquest into his death has heard.

A police constable who found the 14-year-old’s remains in the tunnel, which runs out to Belfast Lough, described the marks as indents in a layer of sludge which stopped about 15 feet short of Noah’s body.

“It is my belief these marks were made by Noah himself,” he told the inquest at Belfast Coroner’s Court on Friday.

Pc Wylie described the tunnel as around four feet wide and described conditions as cold and very humid, and said his breath was foggy in the air like on a cold winter morning.

The long-running inquest, which is now in its 15th week probing the teenager’s death, viewed body worn camera footage showing Noah’s body in the tunnel.

The St Malachy’s College student had been planning to meet with school friends at Cavehill after setting out on his bike from his home in south Belfast on Sunday June 21 2020.

While he set out crossing the city to north Belfast, he was seen on CCTV having veering off course on the Shore Road, and later on Northwood Road close to the entrance of the storm drain.

His naked body was found in the underground water tunnel on June 27th, six days after he left home.

A post-mortem examination found the likely cause of death was drowning.

Pc Wylie, who is a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s search and rescue team, said on June 27th he was tasked, along with colleagues, to search the tunnel from behind a Translink maintenance yard on the Shore Road at 9:10am.

After descending into the tunnel using a ladder, he said: “After approximately 20 feet, I observed at a distance of 20 feet or so what appeared to be human remains.

“We proceeded to within about six feet… we could clearly see a pair of legs and buttocks at a bend in the pipe, the remains appeared to be face down, I could see no clothing present.”

He said they went out to inform the rest of the team they had found a body, and returned with a camera to record the scene.

The team went on to remove Noah’s body, but added he noted marks on either side of the tunnel.

“Approximately half a dozen marks, two thirds of the way up on each side, these had the appearance of what believed to be two or three finger marks, it looked to me like someone had perhaps extended their hands out to steady themselves as they made their way through the tunnel,” he said.

“The marks only proceeded for about 15-20 feet, and stopped about 15 feet short of Noah’s remains, they were evenly spaced.”

Pc Wylie said after the recovery of Noah’s body he went back into the tunnel to check for any further marks, but noted no other marks of any kind.

In a third statement after being asked to provide further clarity around the marks in the tunnel, Pc Wylie said the marks had been in a “thin layer of very fine sludge”.

“These marks would be akin to finger marks made on a window with heavy condensation, and each consisted of between a half and a full finger’s length,” he said.

“The marks appeared to me to be relatively fine, as if made by smaller hands.

“It is my belief these marks were made by Noah himself.”

He said no photographs were taken of the marks.

Earlier the inquest heard evidence from Pc Craig who had been tasked to check for CCTV showing Noah in the hours before he went missing.

He had been on duty on Monday, June 22nd, and Tuesda,y June 23rd, amid search efforts for Noah.

On June 23rd, he viewed CCTV footage from a house on Northwood Road, close to an entrance to the storm drain where Noah was later found.

He described in his statement seeing Noah “running up the driveway of a neighbouring home towards the rear of a house”, but no other activity that could likely to be linked to Noah.

He was also one of the officers who viewed CCTV at the Grove Wellbeing Centre on the Shore Road for a potential sighting of Noah, but did not find any.

Declan Quinn, junior counsel to the coroner, put to him that footage was found at the Grove Wellbeing Centre of Noah cycling past at 6:01pm, and asked Pc Craig was that missed by Pc Day and himself.

He responded: “Yeah, I believe through this inquest that has come out that there was footage of him.”

Quinn added: “Your evidence is that you never saw that piece of footage?”, to which Pc Craig replied: “Yes.”

Pc Craig said he did not recall visiting the nearby Morgan and Melville Funeral Directors, where CCTV footage of Noah passing was also found.

The inquest will continue on Monday.