Nurse Denies Anonymous Call During Noah Donohoe Search
A nurse has denied making an anonymous call to the police during the search for Noah Donohoe. Noah's body was found six days after he disappeared in 2020.
The nurse, who was granted anonymity and appeared at the inquest behind a screen, was giving evidence about the anonymous call during which a caller informed police that a man possessed items belonging to the missing boy.
The man, Daryl Paul, was jailed in 2021 after pleading guilty to stealing a rucksack containing Noah's laptop and schoolbooks, which he found on the day the boy went missing on 21 June 2020.
Three days after Noah went missing, police received an anonymous call from a woman who said she had been visiting a friend at a house in the Victoria Parade area of north Belfast on the evening of Noah's disappearance.
The caller told police that Paul had called at the house while she was there and offered to sell a laptop.
The anonymous caller also informed police that Paul had a plastic bag containing a rucksack, a green coat, the laptop, and a book with Noah Donohoe's name.
'It's not me'
In a statement to the inquest, Paul, who was being visited by the nurse on the evening of Noah's disappearance, named her as the person who made the anonymous call to police.
Paul also made a statement saying he thought the anonymous call may have been made by the nurse.
The call, in which the caller said she had to remain anonymous due to concerns for her family, was played at the inquest while the witness was on the stand.
During her evidence on Monday, the nurse was shielded from the public by a curtain but was visible to Noah's mother, Fiona Donohoe, the coroner, the jury, and legal teams.
The witness said she only became aware in recent weeks that her name had been given to the inquest.
She explained that she did visit a friend's house on the evening of Noah's disappearance to collect bingo books, noting that online bingo became popular during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The witness stated she knew Paul's family but insisted she had not seen him for about 20 years.
She denied making the call, saying she had been
"tortured"by being linked to the case and insisted,
"It's not me".
'Massive coincidence'
The witness was informed that police had her name, address, and date of birth during follow-up inquiries and was asked if she was sure it was not her.
She replied,
"Absolutely not, no."
At the conclusion of her evidence, Coroner Mr Justice Rooney asked if she had been contacted by anyone before giving evidence and if she or her family had been threatened. She responded,
"no".
The jury at the inquest was reduced from 11 to 10 after the coroner discharged one member for a "genuine reason" following the juror's disclosure that he recognized a recent witness.
Paul was jailed in 2021 for stealing Noah's laptop after pleading guilty to stealing a rucksack containing the laptop and schoolbooks after finding the bag on the day Noah went missing in June 2020.
He attempted to pawn the laptop while a major search was underway for the missing boy.
The 33-year-old, who had an address at Cliftonville Avenue in north Belfast at the time, was sentenced to three months in jail.
The inquest previously heard that Noah cycled past Paul at the start of his journey from his south Belfast home on the day he disappeared in north Belfast.
Paul was standing outside Queens Quarter Housing on University Street at that time.
Despite the
"massive coincidence"of the schoolboy cycling past the man who found and stole his laptop on the other side of the city later that evening, all legal parties at the inquest have accepted there was no physical interaction between the two prior to Noah's disappearance.
