Images of Noah Donohoe’s Early Morning Movements Presented at Inquest
During the inquest into the death of schoolboy Noah Donohoe, CCTV footage was shown to the jury depicting a mysterious early morning journey by Noah on the day he disappeared.
Noah went missing at approximately 18:00 GMT on 21 June 2020 after cycling from his home in south Belfast to the northern part of the city.
At the inquest held on Wednesday, coroner Mr Justice Rooney and the jury viewed CCTV recordings showing Noah leaving his home at 03:34 GMT on 21 June and returning over 30 minutes later at 04:08 GMT.
Additional footage displayed during the inquest captured Noah walking barefoot along University Street and Dudley Street during his absence from home in that timeframe.
When leaving his home that morning, Noah was dressed in shorts, a white t-shirt, and flip-flops, carrying headphones in one hand. Upon his return, he was no longer wearing the flip-flops and entered his apartment barefoot.
The supplementary footage confirmed that Noah was walking barefoot on the streets near Dudley Street and University Street.
The inquest examined the footage closely, noting that Noah initially walked toward the Queen's University area but returned from the opposite direction, along Ormeau Road.
'Mysterious 34-Minute Trip'
The 34-minute early morning excursion was a focal point during the inquest, particularly in testimony from Jake Blythe, a forensic video analyst.
Blythe reviewed CCTV footage from various times on the day of Noah's disappearance, describing the footage as
"a complete chain of evidence".
The inquest scrutinized images of Noah upon his return after 04:00 GMT, including an examination of his shorts to consider whether an item might have been in one of his pockets. A barrister representing Noah's family described the item as
"not protruding, something that fits".
It was also observed that the belt Noah wore was hanging loosely when he returned to the apartment he shared with his mother. Coroner Mr Justice Rooney remarked that the belt was
"more dislodged"than when Noah left just over half an hour earlier.
During his evidence, Blythe also stated that he reviewed images of Noah cycling past Ulster University in north Belfast on his final bicycle ride before his disappearance. He confirmed that Noah was wearing a rucksack while cycling along a walkway at a construction site at the university.
However, Blythe noted there was
"limited support"to suggest Noah still had the rucksack as he cycled across a junction at the university site’s end, and any evidence of Noah possessing the rucksack beyond that point was
"inconclusive".
Previously, a man jailed for stealing Noah's laptop, which was inside the rucksack, told the inquest he found the laptop alongside the university walkway.
'New Lodge and Mount Vernon Helped Search'
The inquest also heard from Roberta Boyd, a former manager of a funeral directors on York Road in north Belfast, which lies along the route of Noah's final bicycle ride.
Boyd, who worked at Melville Morgan at the time of Noah's disappearance, recalled a visit by the PSNI during the search. She said the police requested CCTV footage, which she assumed was related to Noah's investigation.
Boyd granted access to the CCTV and believed the police downloaded the material. However, a PSNI lawyer explained that police records do not show any footage downloaded from Melville Morgan on that day.
When questioned, Boyd suggested she might have confused the timing with an earlier occasion that month when police downloaded footage for an unrelated case. She admitted she was
"not watching exactly what they were doing"due to limited knowledge of the technology.
Boyd stated she allowed the police to use the material themselves and believed they downloaded it. She recalled the police visit because many people were searching the York Road area, including individuals from New Lodge and Mount Vernon.
Reflecting on Noah's death, Boyd said:
"It's tragic, tragic".
