Department 'hadn't a clue' if tunnel was locked, inquest hears

A witness at the Noah Donohoe inquest has rejected a claim that a Stormont department "hadn't a clue" about a central issue in the case.

Jonathan McKey, who is a senior official at the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), faced questions about the entrance to a culvert close to where Noah went missing in north Belfast in June 2020.

A lawyer for Fiona Donohoe, Noah's mother, explained to the inquest that the teenager died after "having got access through a hatch or bars" at the culvert.

Six days after Noah's disappearance, his body was found in an underground drainage system more than six hundred metres downstream from the culvert inlet which is located behind homes at Northwood Road.

Questions have been raised since the boy's death about safety measures at the culvert inlet with a particular focus on whether a hatch alongside steel bars was locked.

The bars were part of a debris management system.

Giving evidence to the inquest on Friday, Jonathan McKee explained that it is not known for sure if there was a padlock on the hatch in the months before Noah's death.

But he said: "To be fair and reasonable I think it wasn't locked."

During a robust series of exchanges, the witness rejected a suggestion by the family lawyer that the department "hadn't a clue" whether there was a padlock in place.

McKee said: "It was an absolute shock to us that Noah had lost his life in a culvert that the department maintained."

He explained that there was a lot of media attention about the case at the time and the department wanted to follow-up the matter as quickly as possible.

He said "it probably wasn't locked" and added that the assertion that the department didn't have a clue "isn't right".

The witness also told the coroner, Mr Justice Rooney, and the jury that the department had no policy on whether culvert hatches should be locked or unlocked, explaining that it was left to operations teams at each location.

The family barrister said the public had been concerned that a child had died "having got access through a hatch or bars" and there had been a recommendation that a padlock should have been put on the hatch prior to Noah's death.

When the DfI witness said experts had agreed that Noah got in through bars, the family barrister retorted: "We don't know how Noah got in".

McKee also explained that there are two types of screens used at culverts - a security screen or a debris screen.

He said the culvert in question had a debris screen which did not require a padlock.

The witness was also asked by the lawyer about safety issues that could have arisen for local families whose back gardens adjoin the waste ground where the culvert is located.

McKee explained that homeowners had not raised any safety concerns about the culvert.

He said: "It's an exceptionally vigilant community."

The family barrister said nobody had told the residents about potential risks and the department had not advised the residents that there was no padlock on the culvert hatch.

Referring to Noah's death, the family barrister said "he'd still be here" if there was a security screen at the site.

She also pointed out that a parent of two young children from Northwood Road has stated that she thought the area was dangerous.

The family barrister said this indicated that the woman was "completely unaware" of safety concerns at the site.

The department official insisted that a debris screen was appropriate at the location for the purpose of managing issues including the risk of downstream flooding at homes on the Shore Road.

He also added: "Where there are lessons to be learned, we'll learn those lessons."

The inquest has previously been told by the department official that the area around the culvert entrance was not accessible to the public and that access was limited to the occupants of four nearby homes at Northwood Road.

Noah was last seen running naked between some of the nearby houses towards private back gardens adjoining the culvert site.