Inquest Told Jury Cannot Be Reassured Over Police Search for Noah Donohoe
The inquest into the death of 14-year-old schoolboy Noah Donohoe has entered its sixth week at Belfast Coroner's Court, with a barrister for his mother strongly challenging police claims about the search operation. Brenda Campbell KC argued that a jury cannot be reassured by a police officer's assertion that nothing could have been done differently to find Noah sooner.
Police Account Questioned
Sergeant Hutchings, who served as the lead police search adviser (Polsa) during the 2020 search, testified that he believes Noah's body would never have been found if he hadn't initiated a search of underground water tunnels. However, Ms Campbell pointed to what she described as a minimum 12-hour delay in Polsas identifying a storm drain in Northwood Linear Park as a location requiring search.
"You cannot seek to give this jury, and more importantly, Noah's mother, the reassurance that there was nothing that could have been done differently to get Noah back any sooner," Ms Campbell told the officer during questioning.
Timeline of Events
Noah Donohoe, a pupil at St Malachy's College, disappeared on June 21, 2020, after leaving home on his bicycle to meet friends in Belfast's Cavehill area. His naked body was discovered six days later in a storm drain tunnel in north Belfast. A post-mortem examination determined the cause of death was drowning.
Ms Campbell questioned Sergeant Hutchings about his actions after assuming responsibility for the search on the morning of June 22. She noted there were no "investigative developments" between 11:30 AM and when he went off duty that evening.
That same evening, police received a call about Noah's bicycle that led them to Northwood Road, adjacent to the culvert in Northwood Linear Park. Sergeant Hutchings visited the park when he returned to duty on Tuesday morning.
Critical Questions About Search Delay
When asked why colleagues on duty the previous evening or earlier that morning hadn't spotted the culvert, Sergeant Hutchings responded, "I don't know." Ms Campbell pressed further, asking if the Polsa on duty the night before had mentioned the culvert, to which the officer said he couldn't remember.
"Noah, a few days later, was found in that culvert, dead, naked," Ms Campbell stated. "Are you really telling us that you don't remember? You haven't racked your brains to understand when it was that culvert was first identified to the police?"
The officer maintained he had requested a search of the culvert immediately upon identifying it.
Search Strategy and Hypotheses
Earlier testimony revealed that Sergeant Hutchings ordered a team to begin searching the tunnel network on Tuesday, with police divers deployed on Friday due to rising water levels. When asked by Declan Quinn, counsel for the coroner, if he had considered deploying divers earlier, Sergeant Hutchings explained he viewed the storm drain as a "very low probability" location.
"There was nothing to suggest that Noah was inside that pipe," he testified, adding that the search was conducted to be "100% sure" Noah wasn't in the tunnel.
By Thursday of that week, police had developed two possible hypotheses: that Noah was missing voluntarily or missing "under the influence of a third party." Sergeant Hutchings noted that when Noah couldn't be found in the area where he was last seen, "the investigative part started looking at known sex offenders in the area."
Officer's Defense and Condolences
Sergeant Hutchings defended the search operation, stating it was conducted as "quickly and safely" as possible. "I can't put somebody into a pipe and endanger their life," he explained. "It has to be done as safely and methodically as possible."
He maintained that "there is nothing I can see that we could have done differently that could have found Noah any sooner." The officer added that finding Noah's body allowed his mother to bury him, contrasting this with "a number of outstanding missing persons that I still haven't found."
In a poignant moment, Sergeant Hutchings expressed, "This is the first time I have had any contact with Noah's family. With the court's approval, I want to send my heartfelt condolences to them. I wanted to find Noah."
The inquest continues as the jury examines the circumstances surrounding Noah Donohoe's tragic death and the police response to his disappearance.
