Stormont Department of Infrastructure (DFI) will not be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter over the death of schoolboy Noah Donohoe, a court has heard.
The 14-year-old boy was found dead in a storm drain owned by the department in north Belfast in 2020, six days after he went missing.
Noah’s mother, Fiona Donohoe, was at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast on Thursday for the latest preliminary hearing in the long-running case. The full inquest is expected to take place next year and she hopes to secure answers to some of the questions surrounding her son’s death through the inquest process.
In 2021 police opened an investigation into suspected corporate manslaughter in relation to how the department managed access to the drain network. The PSNI in 2022 passed a file on to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) which decided not to pursue charges against the department.
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However, it then decided to review that decision following a request from Ms Donohoe’s legal team.
Providing an update on Thursday, counsel to the coroner, Peter Coll KC, said a letter had been sent from the PPS to the coroner’s service on October 25th “relating to the finalisation of the decision not to prosecute DFI”.
A spokesperson for the PPS confirmed the original decision not to prosecute had been upheld with the evidence “insufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction”.
During the lengthy review hearing, Mr Coll updated the court on a number of issues relating to the disclosure process and preparation of expert reports ahead of the full inquest.
Counsel for Ms Donohoe, Brenda Campbell KC, also updated the court on a photograph of a hand found on Noah’s phone believed to have been taken on the night he went missing. Ms Campbell previously said an expert had discovered the image and it raised the prospect that the phone had been in the possession of someone else after Noah went missing.
“It seems that there is no dispute as to the timing of the photograph, or there is unlikely to be a dispute that a photograph was taken on his phone at that time,” she said. “But as to the who, why, and where questions, we don’t yet have a response from those who are working on it within the PSNI.
“We won’t be able to progress with our expert’s report until we have some of those answers.”
Counsel for the PSNI, Donal Lunny KC, said he was hopeful that written answers could be provided in the next week.
The inquest into Noah’s death was originally scheduled to take place last year but was then delayed after a ruling that it should proceed with a jury, following an application from Ms Donohoe.
A provisional date for the inquest has been set for February 3rd next, but it is not expected that it will be ready to proceed on that date. Mr Justice Rooney said he would review progress in the case again before Christmas. – PA