During the long-running inquest examining the death of Noah Donohoe, one friend described him as the “most intelligent human being I’ve ever met”.
Jurors at Belfast Coroner’s Court heard more than five months of evidence in relation to the 14-year-old Belfast schoolboy’s disappearance and death.
During the hearings, the jury was told about Noah’s character and his hopes for the future.
Noah’s naked body was found in an underground water tunnel in north Belfast on June 27 2020, six days after he left home on his bike to meet two friends in the Cavehill area of the city.
His mother, Fiona Donohoe, and his friends described a wildly intelligent and emotionally mature young man, with an insatiable appetite for knowledge and new experiences.
Ms Donohoe has led a high-profile campaign for answers about her son’s death and gave evidence in January at the outset of the inquest.
She attended every day of the court proceedings.
In her video evidence to the inquest, she described her son as a “beautiful, happy and much-loved soul”, with whom she had a “magical bond”.
The pair took long walks together discussing philosophy, and Ms Donohoe felt intense pride in her only child’s achievements as well as his empathy and love for others.
“Noah, with his genuine, fun-loving, kind and inquisitive nature and his joy for life, and his bright future ahead of him, should be at the heart of this inquest,” she said.
In his third year at St Malachy’s College, Noah was popular and well-liked, but had a close-knit inner circle in his two best friends Jay Tierney and Charlie Rocks.
Giving evidence to the inquest, Mr Tierney described Noah as “eccentric but not in a bad way”, saying the pair supported each other during the Covid-19 lockdown.
He said Noah was the “most intelligent human being I’ve ever met in my life” telling the court they would have almost daily Skype calls, some as long as eight hours.
Mr Tierney described his friend as “perpetually inquisitive”, frequently recommending him books like George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and making him playlists of classical music after he told Noah it was something he wanted to learn more about.
He said they were “very open” with each other, and jurors were read messages where the pair spoke openly about their mental health and feelings of isolation in that period of quarantine in 2020.
Mr Rocks characterised Noah as “the nicest, friendliest person, funniest person,” and “the smartest kid, he was always asking questions”.
He added: “Noah was friendly with everyone in school. I joked with him that he knew everyone in school.
“He wasn’t the type of person to be in the popular friend group, but he knew everyone.”
Noah’s cello teacher Andrew Nesbitt described him as a diligent and hard-working student, who was naturally talented, picking up music quickly.
He was looking forward to going on a trip to Philadelphia with a musical group, where he planned to run up the Rocky Balboa Steps.
Noah was a high achiever, with Deirdre McCusker, now principal at St Malachy’s, describing him as an “excellent student”.
He showed expansive interest in literature and the arts, but also excelled in maths and sciences, and wanted to study medicine at Trinity College Dublin.
An issue that was raised on a number of occasions throughout the inquest was the fact that Noah’s behaviour on the night he disappeared was hugely out of character for him.
In the final CCTV clips of his journey through Belfast he is seen cycling naked.
His mother and friends said it was not like Noah to cycle even without his helmet, and that he was very protective of his few expensive possessions – such as his laptop – which he rarely took out of the house, but was in his backpack the night he disappeared.
Ms Donohoe told police when she called them to report her son missing that it was highly unusual for him to be out of contact and out after when he said he would be home.
The jury also saw CCTV of Noah leaving his home at around 3.30am on the day he went missing, returning just over half an hour later, without his headphones and flip flops.
This footage was not viewed by police until 2022.
The senior PSNI officer leading Noah’s investigation said it was an “investigative failure” that he wasn’t more inquisitive about the 14-year-old’s home life, saying he “took the account that he didn’t leave the house because of his obedience to rules and time”.
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