McKee Says Noah Donohoe Tunnel Hatch Probably Was Not Locked
A Department for Infrastructure senior official told the Noah Donohoe inquest that the tunnel hatch probably was not locked. Jonathan McKee gave evidence on Friday and said the culvert had a debris screen that did not require a padlock.
His evidence goes to the entrance to the culvert near where Noah went missing in north Belfast in June 2020. The inquest is examining how the teenager got access and whether the department-maintained structure had safety measures in place.
McKee On The Hatch
McKee said it was not known for sure whether there had been a padlock on the hatch in the months before Noah's death. He added, "To be fair and reasonable I think it wasn't locked," and also said, "it probably wasn't locked."
He rejected the suggestion that the department "hadn't a clue" about whether a padlock was in place. In response, he said that was "isn't right" and told the inquest, "It was an absolute shock to us that Noah had lost his life in a culvert that the department maintained."
Culvert Near Northwood Road
The questions at the inquest focus on the entrance to a culvert close to where Noah went missing in north Belfast in June 2020. Six days after his disappearance, his body was found in an underground drainage tunnel more than six hundred metres downstream from the culvert inlet behind homes at Northwood Road.
A lawyer for Fiona Donohoe said Noah died after having got access through a hatch or bars at the culvert. McKee said experts had agreed that Noah got in through bars, but the family barrister replied, "We don't know how Noah got in."
Department Policy At The Culvert
McKee said the Department for Infrastructure had no policy on whether culvert hatches should be locked or unlocked, and that the decision was left to operations teams at each location. He also said there are two types of screens used at culverts, and that the culvert in question had a debris screen.
That screen, he said, did not require a padlock. The evidence leaves the inquest still focused on the same practical issue for the family and the department: how access was possible at a maintained structure that was supposed to keep a culvert inlet secure.
