Noah Unaware Meeting Was Cancelled
Noah Donohoe could not have known that a meeting with friends was cancelled on the day he disappeared, the inquest into his death has been informed.
The hearing revealed that the 14-year-old did not have data on his phone during his final bicycle journey.
The schoolboy went missing while cycling from his south Belfast home to meet two friends at Cave Hill in north Belfast on 21 June 2020.
On Thursday, the inquest was reminded that one of Noah's friends sent him a message informing him that their planned meet-up was cancelled.
Coroner Mr Justice Rooney and the jury were presented with a timeline of events surrounding Noah's departure from his home off the Lower Ormeau Road.
The schoolboy conducted an internet search for "Cavehill" on his laptop at 17:34 BST before leaving his home on the day he went missing.
The inquest heard that the St Malachy's College student left his home at approximately 17:40.
At 17:41, one of his friends sent him a message on Instagram indicating that their planned meeting was called off.
During the testimony of a digital expert who examined Noah's communication and social media devices, it was revealed that Noah would have already left his home when the Instagram message was delivered.
A barrister for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said: "Noah would have left by then."
The barrister further explained that Noah did not have a data plan on his phone—which was only a week old—and therefore would not have had online access, meaning he
"wouldn't have received the message"on his phone.
Digital Devices Examined
Simon Young, the digital expert, provided a broad overview of mobile phone calls, internet searches, and other activity on Noah's mobile phone, Kindle, and Chromebook.
He found that all but one of the 28 calls to and from Noah's phone in the week before his disappearance were between the teenager and his mother, Fiona.
The inquest was informed that the single call not between mother and son was a 32-second call from Noah's phone number to the same number.
The witness stated he could not explain this anomaly but noted the call was recorded as being made on the Saturday night before Noah's disappearance from a postcode near Noah's home.
Young also discovered records of internet searches for various locations conducted at the beginning of the month Noah disappeared.
These included North Circular Road, Cave Hill, St Malachy's College, Belfast City Hospital, and Alexandra Park.
On the day of his disappearance, Noah searched the internet for "Cavehill," but there were no records of searches related to the parts of Belfast he traveled through during the final stages of his last bicycle ride.
When asked by a barrister representing Fiona Donohoe, Noah's mother, if he found any evidence on Noah's devices of searches on the dark web, Young responded:
"I saw no evidence of that."
The dark web is an encrypted section of the internet accessible only through special software designed to make users digitally untraceable.
Photograph of Hand
Young was also questioned about a photograph taken on Noah's phone within an hour of his disappearance.
The inquest was told the photo captured part of a hand.
This is significant because it is understood that Noah no longer had his phone at that time.
The phone was found at a playpark along the route of Noah's final bicycle ride a day after he disappeared.
The inquest has been investigating how the photo might have been taken on the phone and attempting to identify the person whose hand was captured.
"I have no idea whose hand it (the phone) may have been in," Young said.
The inquest was informed that many of the photos recovered during analysis of Noah's phone were "accidental," suggesting it was "relatively easy" to activate the phone camera without a PIN.
Discovery of Noah's Body
A witness from the PSNI's Cyber Crime team also provided evidence regarding the examination of the phone and the image.
Detective Inspector Jonathan Cunningham explained that while the phone's record indicated the time the photo was taken—18:50 on the evening of Noah's disappearance—it did not provide any location information.
The witness also stated that obtaining scientific fingerprint evidence from the hand image was not possible because the image "wasn't great" and was blurred.
The inquest also heard written statements from several police officers about the discovery of Noah's body.
One officer described a colleague shouting that they had
"found the body of a male lying in the stream".
Another officer described climbing down into a tunnel via a ladder into a large chamber and seeing
"a body lying face down".
