'We will accept the truth, whatever that truth is,' says aunt of Noah Donohoe
Days Three Application Said 2020, During Found Not Will Redact They Storm His The An Went 14, A Family In To Police Was Inquest Belfast After They To June Was Used Dead Into His Of In Parts In Believe Missing Do Made Drain Donohoe, Six North Files After Noah Be The He Truth Get Death
The family of schoolboy Noah Donohoe has said they do not believe they will get the truth after an application was made to redact parts of three police files to be used during the inquest into the child’s death.
The application to redact sensitive materials is being made by the PSNI through the Public Interest Immunity (PII) process.
It emerged at the end of July that Northern Ireland secretary of state Shailesh Vara signed the PII certificate, which was met with criticism by the Donohoe family.
Niamh Donohoe, Noah's aunt, said the family has no faith in the process and does not believe they will get the truth if parts of the files are redacted.
She said the family will continue to fight to get answers and will exhaust every avenue open to them in order to do so.
The 14-year-old pupil at St Malachy’s College in Belfast was found dead in a storm drain in the north of the city in June 2020, six days after he went missing.
Since Noah's passing, Niamh and his mother Fiona, have dedicated their lives to fighting for answers and going through information and disclosures hoping to find out what happened to Noah the day he died.
"We just want answers. Nobody chooses to live their life like this. Nobody would ever choose to live the way we are living," said Niamh.
"Fiona has lost everything but we will continue to fight because all we want is the truth and we just want that opportunity to go back and piece our lives back together in some way after this.
"We will accept the truth, whatever that truth is."
Niamh said the family has been left with a neverending barrage of questions that never seem to get answered.
"Every time you read more information, more statements, it is just a barrage of questions that you need answered and they never seem to end.
Niamh said Noah's death has had a profound effect on the entire family but, of course, no more so than on his mother.
Fiona has not been able to grieve properly, Niamh told RTÉ radio's , and she will not be able to grieve until she knows what happened to her son.
"The nightmares will never leave her. Her life will never be the same again ever, with or without the answers. But maybe we can learn to live with Noah's loss.
"Our love for Noah, we would literally do anything for him and we will always do anything for our babies. That is what keeps us going."
The inquest into Noah’s death is scheduled to begin on November 28 and to run for three weeks.
Earlier this year, Assistant Chief Constable McEwan told a meeting of the Policing Board that the claim that police were bidding to stop relevant information being disclosed to Noah’s inquest “couldn’t be further from the truth”.
Mr McEwan emphasised that only a “small amount” of material was under consideration and stressed that PII was a “usual process” in many inquests.
Fiona said that their legal team cannot make an informed argument without full transparency.
"Noah's case is probably one of the most complex cases that any of the professionals involved in have ever encountered. The details are so complex and two years in, you would like to think that we would be very sure of the details. It's still so confusing."
The questions over why there is a need to enforce PII certificates have just added to the seemingly never-ending questions surrounding Noah's death.
"Questions like CCTV. We still haven't received all of the CCTV. The public are being told that he made his way across the city, there was no third party involvement, that nobody intercepted him, that he removed all his belongings himself and reached a part of Belfast that he wasn't aware of.
"Noah would have no reason to be there, so why was he there? Why did he end up cycling, naked, in a densely populated street in the middle of the day?
"The route that he was taking from his home was the route that he would have taken to school so Noah would be knowledgeable of that route. But for some reason instead of turning left where he would normally turn left, he goes straight on and into a part of Belfast where he really had no reason to be there."
On Saturday, there will be rallies held in counties Down, Tyrone, and Derry with another one planned at Belfast City Hall to protest the decision to enforce the PII certificates.
Niamh thanked those who have supported the Donohoe family throughout the campaign. The family is expecting their supporters, known as 'Noah's Army', to turn out in huge numbers.
Describing her nephew, Ms Donohue said Noah was not your average 14-year-old and was a gift.
The young teen played the cello, was a keen rugby player, and was teaching himself Japanese.
"He just loved life. He couldn't sing but he was still in the school choir. So that gives you an idea of the sort of personality he was. He really was genuinely just a wee beautiful soul."
- Additional reporting by PA