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'Not Foreseeable' Someone Would Access Culvert Where Schoolboy’s Body Found
A DfI official said the culvert was not publicly accessible and fencing was not practicable as the inquest heard further evidence.
A senior Stormont official told the inquest it was not "reasonably foreseeable" that someone would access the culvert entrance where Noah Donohoe, 14, was found dead in June 2020.
Jonathan McKee testified the site is not publicly accessible, citing security fencing and locked gates as existing deterrents. He stated installing additional fencing was not a "practicable option" as it would be "cutting off access" for Northwood Road residents.
Addressing the 2017 refurbishment, the DfI official described the debris screen replacement as a "like-for-like replacement." McKee also noted there can be "significant waterflows" within the underground water tunnel.
Barrister Neasa Murnaghan questioned the witness during the 15th week of the inquest, asking: "In all of your experience have you ever come across a death which has arisen in these circumstances."
The long-running inquest is taking place at Laganside Courthouse. Noah, a pupil at Malachy College, was 14 when he died six days after leaving home to meet friends in the Cavehill area of Belfast.