The jury at the inquest into the death of Noah Donohoe have been told to reach their findings based on the evidence they have heard in court.
Coroner's Charge Begins
Coroner Mr Justice Rooney started his charge to the jury of eight men and two women on Thursday, on the 21st week of the inquest, which started in January. Noah, a pupil at St Malachy's College, was 14 when his naked body was found in a storm drain tunnel in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after he left home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of the city.
CCTV evidence and witnesses show that Noah took a detour from his planned route, cycling instead along York Road and ending up on Northwood Road where it is suggested he entered the tunnel via a culvert behind a house. The inquest was shown CCTV of Noah cycling naked along Northwood Road, and evidence that some residents heard noises including screams on the night of June 21 when Noah went missing. A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was drowning.
Jury's Task
The jury is charged with reaching findings including how Noah came by his death. Noah's mother Fiona Donohoe, who has led a high profile campaign for answers around his death, has been present at Belfast Coroner's Court for every day of the inquest.
Mr Justice Rooney told the jury his charge would be lengthy as it covered almost six months of evidence. He said the inquest had heard from 76 witnesses, and statements from a further 42 people, and considered maps, video footage, photographs, police logs and expert reports.
Fact-Finding Inquiry, Not a Trial
He also reminded the jury the process was a fact-finding inquiry into how Noah died, and not a criminal trial where someone is found guilty of an offence or found liable to pay damages, and not about finding fault, attributing blame or apportioning guilt. "Your findings must be based solely on the evidence that you have heard or have seen in this court, you must ignore everything else other than this evidence. It is irrelevant," he said.
"We are here because this inquest is required by law. You must not suppose that this automatically means that something went wrong that contributed to Noah's death, you must not lose focus on the question we are here to consider, that is how Noah came by his death."
Summary of Evidence
Summarising the evidence heard, Mr Justice Rooney recounted that Noah was a positive person who was popular and well-liked, had a close bond with his mother, was a top academic achiever aiming to study medicine at Trinity College, Dublin and who was loved by his family and friends.
He said they were "not bound" by the cause of death given by pathologists as drowning, and may change it, but pointed out it was agreed by all the pathologists and had not been challenged in the inquest. He also cautioned the jury that they could not make a number of findings that there was no evidence to support.
Limitations on Findings
These included that there was insufficient evidence to find that Noah was assaulted by a third party, that Noah was under the influence of drugs, that Noah was in a psychotic episode or acute mental illness, that he had taken his own life, that a third party was responsible for his death or that he was the victim of child exploitation.
He added that it is "not a failure" of the inquest process that they had reached a point where certain findings could not be made. "In fact the opposite is true, this is the inquest process working properly, we have tested extensively the evidence on these topics, it is only once we have tested that evidence that we can rule out it is more likely than not that these matters did not happen," he said.
