Witness says Noah Donohoe had fairly bad fall off bike

A woman who saw Noah Donohoe fall off his bicycle on the evening he went missing has told the inquest into the schoolboy's death that he did not seem to have suffered any obvious injuries.

Amanda Seenan saw Noah fall from his bike on North Queen Street close to its junction with York Road in north Belfast.

The body of the 14-year-old was found in a storm drain in north Belfast on 27 June 2020, six days after he went missing.

A post-mortem examination found that his death was due to drowning.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Seenan said it seemed like a "fairly bad fall", although she said he jumped up again quickly and cycled away.

She said she saw him "dust" his knee before getting back on his bike but other than that she did not see any obvious injuries.

"I didn't see him touch anywhere else as if he were injured," she said.

"In total from when I first saw him to when I lost sight of him was no more than a minute."

Earlier in the day, a woman who drove past the teenager just after he fell gave evidence.

Sinead Quinn did not see him fall off his bike but drove past him immediately afterwards.

She said she saw him pick up his bike, leaving his "khaki coat" on the ground before cycling off.

She beeped her horn at him to alert him about the coat, but he didn't pick the coat up.

"He looked startled, he didn't lift the coat, but just cycled on, which I thought was strange," she said.

The witness said he did not seem to be injured.

The following day, she saw a Facebook post regarding Noah and contacted the police because she believed this was the boy she had seen.

Quinn was later shown CCTV footage of what appeared to be Noah falling off his bike.

A lawyer for Noah's mother Fiona Donohoe, Brenda Campbell KC, said Quinn had been the first eyewitness to the incident in North Queen Street to contact police.

The witness told the court she could not be certain why Noah had looked startled when she sounded her horn.

Campbell asked the witness if she told police she believed Noah had suffered a head injury after falling off the bike.

Quinn said: "All I could tell for certain was that he was picking up his bike...I don't think I would have said he had sustained a head injury."

Another witness, Nathan Montgomery, told the inquest he had driven behind Noah on the evening he went missing and saw the boy "sway" several times on his bike.

He lives in the Seaview area of north Belfast and had left his house to pick up a Chinese takeaway.

He said he noticed Noah cycling past while he parked outside the takeaway on North Queen Street.

Mr Montgomery said minutes later as he drove home, he again saw the 14-year-old and drove behind him for a period of time, during which Noah swayed onto the road 2-3 times.

Montgomery said it was "not exaggerated" but enough to make him "wary" of the cyclist, and made him "more cautious than normal" of overtaking him.

He did pass him close to Jennymount Methodist Church on North Queen Street.

He was aware of reports of Noah's disappearance but it was only after police conducting house to house enquiries called at his home and spoke to his wife, that she prompted his memory and he called the police.

The inquest is now in its second week.