A retired police officer has described the frigid and challenging conditions within the storm drain tunnel network where the body of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe was discovered. Retired inspector Menary, who previously managed the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) hazardous environment search (HES) team, testified that anyone entering the tunnel without protective clothing would have been severely affected by the cold.
Noah Donohoe Inquest: Conditions in Storm Drain Described
The inquest into Donohoe’s death is currently in its fourth week at Belfast Coroner’s Court. Donohoe, a student at St Malachy’s College, was found dead in a storm drain tunnel in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after he went missing while traveling on his bike to meet friends in the Cavehill area.
A post-mortem examination determined the cause of death was drowning.
Menary told the jury that his team resumed searching a section of the storm drain network on June 25, four days after Noah was reported missing. The tunnel was accessible via a culvert entrance in Northwood Linear Park, near where Noah was last seen.
At the time, Menary stated the operation was a search, not a body recovery.
He said there was “no evidence” to suggest Noah had entered the storm drain at that point. The team was “looking for anything strange or out of the ordinary within the culvert.”
Menary searched an area underneath Seaview football pitch, home of Crusaders FC. He described the conditions as “freezing cold,” noting that even his sealed flood suit allowed water to enter around the waist and into his jacket while lying down.
When asked by counsel for the coroner, Declan Quinn, about the impact on someone without protective clothing, Menary responded, “Somebody doing that with no clothes would have been absolutely horrendous and you would have been absolutely frozen.”
Menary explained the physical exertion required to navigate the tunnel from the Linear Park entrance to the area he searched. He said the continuous exposure to cold water would cause disorientation and slow movement.
The retired officer said it was “heartbreaking” to consider Noah had been in the tunnel, describing the area under the pitch as “fairly horrendous.”
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