Woman tells inquest she saw Noah Donohoe cycling naked before he disappeared

A witness has told an inquest she thought at first it was a “prank” when she saw Noah Donohoe riding his bike naked.

Another witness told how she found Noah’s bike outside her house shortly before the schoolboy went missing in 2020.

Noah was 14 when he was found dead in a water culvert in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after leaving home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of Belfast.

The inquest into his death is now in its second week at Belfast Coroner’s Court.

Noah’s mother Fiona Donohoe has attended every day of the inquest.

On Thursday the court heard from Kerry Fraser, who had been at her partner’s house in Northwood Road in north Belfast the evening that Noah left his home.

Her statement was read to the court. She said she saw a male riding past the house.

She said: “He was totally naked.

“I thought it was a man who had had too much to drink on Father’s Day and was having a prank.

“He was tall, had an afro hairstyle, and was black.

“He was sitting down cycling and did not appear to be distressed, although he was cycling quickly.

“I got up and went to the window and looked out, but he was away.

“I thought he must have gone into one of the houses.”

Ms Fraser said she went outside and saw grey shorts and white boxers in the street while a jumper was over a wall and a pair of trainers had been “placed neatly against the wall”.

Ms Fraser said she saw the bike lying on the ground further up the cul-de-sac but there was no sign of the male who had been riding it.

She said she later became aware of a public appeal over Noah’s disappearance and she told her son to contact the police.

The court was told Ms Fraser had put a post on Facebook stating that she saw a naked cyclist but had later removed it after being contacted by a member of Noah’s family.

Karen Crooks, a resident of Northwood Road, had earlier told the inquest she found Noah’s bike near her car outside her house on the same evening.

Ms Crooks said she lifted the mountain bike about an hour later and propped it up.

She said the bike was still there the following night. She then contacted police after seeing a post on social media about Noah’s disappearance.

“I realised the bike described matched the bike in my driveway,” she said.

Ms Crooks was questioned by Neasa Murnaghan, barrister for the Department of Infrastructure.

The witness told the jury an area of wasteland where the culvert was located could be accessed through a side gate at her property.

Ms Murnaghan said there was a 1.8 metre metal fence around the area of the park containing the storm drain.

Ms Murnaghan suggested the only other way of accessing the area was to “trespass” through Ms Crooks’s property, or that of a neighbour.

Ms Murnaghan said the metal bars across the entrance to the culvert was known as a “debris screen”.

Ms Crooks said her five-year-old son had been able to fit through the bars but had not entered the tunnel.

Barrister for the PSNI, Donal Lunny, told the witness that when she contacted the PSNI, she was the first person to bring police into the Northwood Road area which led to inquiries that captured the last sighting of Noah.

Mr Lunny asked Ms Crooks if she remembered if the gate to the side of her property and her garden gate were open or shut on the evening Noah went missing.

She said she could not be 100% sure but said that the gate was usually kept shut as she had two dogs which could wander.

Mr Lunny asked: “If, for example, Noah had come up your driveway, he’d most likely have had to open (the gates)?”

Ms Crooks agreed.

Brenda Campbell KC, counsel for Noah’s mother asked Ms Crooks if it had ever been brought to her attention that children needed to take care around the storm drain.

Ms Crooks said this had never happened.

She also said she had not known there was no padlock on the hatch to the culvert before the disappearance of Noah.

Ms Campbell said: “After Noah disappeared, and the searches that started… that’s really the first time that the dangers of it were drawn to your attention?”

Ms Crooks replied: “100%, yes.”

Ms Campbell said Ms Crooks had called publicly for “greater safety measures” around culverts in residential areas.

She said: “Has the Department (for Infrastructure) asked you for your opinion on what is safe for your children in Northwood Road?”

Ms Crooks said: “They have never contacted me or come near me to make me aware that this is not a safe area for children to be around, or to keep my children away from it.”

The inquest will resume on Monday.