Inquest jury shown footage of some of Noah Donohoe’s last-known movements
By Rebecca Black, Press Association
The jury in the inquest into the death of Noah Donohoe has been shown CCTV footage of some of his last-known movements.
Noah, a pupil at St Malachy’s College, was 14 when his naked body was found in an underground water tunnel in north Belfast on June 27th 2020, six days after he left home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of the city.
He was found more than 600 metres downstream from where he had last been seen close to a culvert inlet behind houses at Northwood Road in north Belfast.
Clips showing Noah cycling through Belfast city centre on June 21st, 2020 shortly before his disappearance as well as leaving the building where he lived were among footage shown at the coroner’s court on Wednesday.
Forensic video analyst Jake Blythe was questioned as an expert witness over the clips which he had examined and produced two reports on after being instructed by solicitors acting for Noah’s mother Fiona.
The first report focused on seven sightings of Noah cycling along York Street from its junction with Donegall Street, past the then under construction Ulster University campus to the junction with Frederick Street on the evening of June 21st.
The inquest previously heard evidence from Daryl Paul, of Cliftonville Avenue, who previously pleaded guilty to stealing the rucksack containing Noah’s laptop and books, that he found the bag in that area.
Blythe told the inquest that Noah could be seen wearing the rucksack in the first five clips, but he could not conclusively say if he had still had the rucksack in the sixth and seventh clips due to the quality of the footage.
In his second report, Blythe analysed footage from Melville Morgan Funeral Directors on York Road, close to where Noah is believed to have turned left to Skegoneill Avenue before continuing to Northwood Drive where he was later seen on CCTV.
It also had clips from CCTV in the apartment complex where Noah lived.
These included showing Noah leaving the building at 3.34am the night before he went missing, wearing flipflops, shorts and a white T-shirt, with earphones.
He returned shortly after 4am without his flipflops and was not seen at the door again until he left with his bike around 5.45pm.
Blythe said he was satisfied the footage from the apartment complex was a complete recording of relevant movements.
Meanwhile, the former manager of Melville Morgan Funeral Directors recalled York Street being “black with people” out searching for Noah.
Roberta Boyd, who was approached for a statement this year, said she recalled three plain-clothed police officers visiting and requesting to view CCTV footage and downloading footage, and assumed it was for sightings of Noah.
However, the PSNI has indicated they have no record of CCTV being seized from these premises for the investigation into Noah’s disappearance.
The only record they have of any CCTV being seized from those premises was on June 11th 2020 by detectives from the rape crime unit regarding an entirely unrelated matter.
The inquest previously heard that police visited looking for CCTV relating to Noah, but did not find any.
Boyd responded saying: “All I can remember is someone came in during the week Noah was missing and asked to look at CCTV, and I gave them access to it.
“If they’re stating that the CCTV was taken on June 11 and they have records of that, I can’t dispute that.”
The inquest is set to resume on Tuesday morning.
