Noah Donohoe inquest LIVE updates as first police witness gives evidence
Earlier, the inquest heard about the moment Noah’s mobile phone was discovered while he was missing.
Noah Donohoe returned home after 4am on June 21 without his flip flops and headphones
The first police officer to visit Noah Donohoe’s house following his disappearance says he’s “content” with the notes he took during his initial meeting with the schoolboy’s mother.
The officer faced questioning at an inquest into the teenager’s death on why he had made only six lines of notes in his pocket notebook about the meeting with Fiona Donohoe, hours after Noah went missing.
The 14-year-old was found dead in a storm drain in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after leaving home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area.
A post-mortem examination found his death was due to drowning. The inquest into his death, which is being heard with a jury, is now in its third week.
The officer, who was a constable at the time, said he was made aware of a missing person investigation on the evening of June 21 2020.
He told Belfast Coroner’s Court that he spoke to Fiona Donohoe on the phone and later attended her home address in south Belfast.
Reading from his statement about Noah’s disappearance, the officer said: “It was also noted that this type of behaviour was completely out of character for the missing person and he would usually be home long before 10pm.
“He had no access to cash or access to a vehicle, apart from his bicycle.”
He said Ms Donohoe told him that her son had been very emotional earlier in the day. The officer said Noah was not someone who had come to the attention of police before.
The officer’s log entry said he had searched Noah’s bedroom. It said the room was “extremely tidy” and there was “nothing to suggest” the missing person did not intend to come home.
He told the jury he was used to dealing with missing persons investigations.
The officer said he was “content with the notebook”, adding that he had not highlighted every action in his notebook but said all relevant information had been recorded separately in the occurrence enquiry log (OEL).
The officer said: “I’m quite content with my actions in relation to that night, in relation to taking details off the reporting person, it may not have been ideal for me to be sitting with my head in my notebook, writing down notes continuously.”
Earlier, the inquest heard about the moment Noah’s mobile phone was discovered while he was missing.
Adelaide Armstrong said she was walking in Castleton Park on June 22 2020, the day after Noah disappeared, when she saw a black mobile phone lying in a grassy area.
She said: “I checked and the phone was off, and I took it home to charge and see if I could contact the owner.”
Ms Armstrong said the screen of the phone was broken, and it was possible it had been thrown into the park.
She added that she found it four or five feet from the park railings.
Ms Armstrong said she turned the phone back on after charging it and saw there were missed calls from a number listed as “Mum”.
She told the court: “I think I actually tried ringing that number first, and was just ringing out. And then I saw another number, and I tried to ring that, that was the police.”
Officer defends notes of first meeting with Noah’s mother
The officer told the jury that the risk assessment in the missing person investigation was changed to “high” after he spoke to Noah’s friend Charlie Rocks, who told him the plan to visit Cavehill was cancelled because of the weather.
Barrister Brenda Campbell KC, who represents Ms Donohoe, suggested the first 24 to 48 hours are “critical” in a missing person investigation.
She said: “Time equals survivability, do you agree with that?”
The officer said he agreed.
The barrister showed the jury a PSNI service procedure document for dealing with missing persons.
Ms Campbell said the service procedure document stated that all relevant details should be recorded in an officer’s pocket notebook.
The officer’s notebook from the night was shown to the jury
Ms Campbell said: “We have over a 12-hour shift, six lines, including when you commenced, what your call sign was and when you terminated, so actually four lines in relation to this missing person investigation.
“Is it fair to say that all relevant details were not recorded in your pocket?”
The officer said he was “content with the notebook”.
Ms Campbell said: “I don’t suggest that you’re in a club of one officer who hasn’t completed a detailed notebook entry, but I think you would agree that you didn’t?”
The officer said he had not highlighted every action in his notebook but said all relevant information had been recorded separately in the occurrence enquiry log (OEL).
Ms Campbell said: “We don’t see anywhere in your notebook a record of what she said, words she used, information that she gave you. Do you agree?”
The officer said those details had been recorded by the call handler who had earlier dealt with Ms Donohoe’s 999 call.
Ms Campbell said: “When the service procedure says you should record details in your notebook, and when the aide to the investigation says you should complete investigation details in your notebook, and when you’re familiar day to day with missing persons inquiries, why don’t you do that as a matter of practice?”
The officer said: “I’m quite content with my actions in relation to that night, in relation to taking details off the reporting person, it may not have been ideal for me to be sitting with my head in my notebook, writing down notes continuously.”
UPDATE:
Noah Donohoe Inquest told how woman heard ‘high-pitched scream’ on the night the schoolboy disappeared
The witness who lives on Northwood Parade told the court she had been reading in bed after putting her son to bed on the night of June 21, 2020, when she heard the scream
Searches for Noah in Seaview Park, North Belfast, in June 2020
A woman has told the Noah Donohoe inquest that she heard a “high-pitched scream” on the night the schoolboy disappeared.
Gemma McMullan lives in Northwood Parade in north Belfast and told the court she had been reading in bed after putting her son to bed on the night of June 21 2020. She told the court she continued reading after midnight.
She said: “Totally out of the blue, I heard a scream. I got up, went into my bathroom, which is at the back of my house, as this is where the scream sounded like it came from. I opened the window wide and had a good look about.
“There was no one around. My security lights had not come on. There were no noises at all, and it was pitch-black. Due to the high-pitched sound of the screen I assumed it was either a young person or a female.”
Noah Donohoe’s mother Fiona arrives at Belfast Laganside Courts. (Image: Jonathan Porter/PressEye)
Another woman told the court she was woken by the sound of someone trying to open her back door on the night the schoolboy disappeared.
Sandra Semple said she had been sleeping downstairs in her house at Premier Drive in the early hours of June 22 2020.
She said: “I was in bed watching TV and shifting in and out of sleep. At about 3am I was woken by a noise at my back door, it was the back door handle being tried. The back door was locked, and whoever was at the back door was moving the handle up and down as if to open it. This was the noise I heard.”
Ms Semple said she did not look outside to see who was at her door.
Earlier witnesses told the Noah Donohoe inquest how they saw the teenager’s bike, helmet and items of clothing on the street after he went missing.
Noah was 14 when he was found dead in a storm drain in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after leaving home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of Belfast.
Community Search and Rescue teams search the Grove area for missing 14-year-old Noah Donohoe in 2020(Image: Philip Magowan / Press Eye)
The inquest into his death is now in its third week at Belfast Coroner’s Court. Noah’s mother Fiona Donohoe has attended every day of the proceedings.
The court heard on Monday from residents of Northwood Road in north Belfast, which is close to the storm drain and the location of the last sighting of Noah.
Chris Morrow said he had been visiting a relative in the Northwood Road on the evening that Noah went missing on June 21 2020. Mr Morrow said when he was leaving later he saw a black bike sitting on its side on the footpath.
He said the following day when he finished work he noticed a black helmet on the street and alerted police after seeing a social media post about a missing boy. Mr Morrow told the inquest that he did not see Noah in the area.
The witness was shown CCTV footage from the street on the evening of Noah’s disappearance which features feet and legs along with shadows moving in the top right corner of the footage.
Noah Donohoe(Image: Facebook)
He said one of the pairs of feet were his and the second were his eldest daughter’s. Mr Morrow said he was made aware of the CCTV footage when police called to his house two weeks ago. The statement of Mr Morrow’s wife Lauren was then read to the court.
She said she was leaving her grandfather’s house in Northwood Road at around 7pm on the evening of Noah’s disappearance when she saw a black bike lying on its side.
Ms Morrow said she then took her dog for a walk and went into Northwood Crescent where she saw a black skater helmet beside a lamppost.
She said: “I noticed it as it was brand new, and I had thought to myself, why was it sitting there? It didn’t appear to have any damage to it.”
The inquest then heard from Lauren Russell. Her statement said she had gone to check her front door was locked when she saw a navy jacket lying over a neighbour’s wall.
She went outside and saw a pair of dark trainers with a bright orange or yellow Nike tick on the ground. She said: “When I looked at it, it was as if somebody had placed them there.”
Last week, the inquest heard from Noah’s friends and witnesses who had seen the 14-year-old cycling on his bike. One witness told how she saw Noah cycling naked in Northwood Road before he disappeared, and another said she discovered his bike outside her house.
Ms Russell said she had wondered whether the items belonged to workmen as her neighbour had been getting work done.
The inquest continues.
