Expert âquite certainâ of public risk at culvert where Noah Donohoe was found
The inquest into the death of the schoolboy, which is being heard before a jury, is in its 13th week
A man and a dog inspect a culvert in Seaview Park during the search for missing Noah Donohoe in June 2020(Image: PA)
A risk assessment expert has told the Noah Donohoe inquest he is âquite certainâ that there was a âpublic safety issueâ at the entrance to a culvert which the schoolboy entered.
A postmortem examination found the likely cause of death was drowning.
The court heard further evidence from civil engineer Brian Pope and Dr Cooper on Wednesday.
They were among a group of four experts who had their joint responses to a series of questions read to the inquest earlier in the month.
Barrister for the Department for Infrastructure (DFI) Neasa Murnaghan KC questioned the witnesses about the culvert at Linear Park in north Belfast.
A general view of Northwood Park and Northwood road in Belfast where school boy Noah Donohoe was last seen in 202O
Ms Murnaghan asked about the risk of âhindsight biasâ when considering access to the culvert, due to the death of Noah.
Mr Pope said: âThere is a risk of hindsight bias and that is what I was acutely aware of, so I looked at the scenarios in different ways.â
Ms Murnaghan said: âYou werenât aware of any comparable deaths to this type of death anywhere in the UK or the Republic of Ireland?â
Mr Pope said: âI didnât have specific details of those.â
The barrister referenced two other deaths in the UK of people who had become pinned against screens at culverts.
The witness said: âThey appear to be linked to entrapment but I donât know the specific details of those and whether that is comparable.â
Ms Murnaghan said: âStatistically the risk of loss of life was greater from being pinned against a screen than being trapped inside a culvert?â
Mr Pope said: âI donât have detailed statistics to prove that one way or the other.â
The barrister then asked Dr Cooper about hindsight bias.
Dr Cooper said he had âthought about this greatlyâ.
Noah Donohoe who was found dead in a storm drain in north Belfast in June 2020(Image: PA Media)
He added: âI am quite certain that had I gone to that culvert and seen what I had seen in terms of the public access to it, and also the picture I have seen of an employee walking through the screens, at that point before anything may have happened I think I would have been alert to the public safety issue here.
âIt is very persuasive seeing those photographs of an adult walking through the bars.
âThat would have caused, without any bias, on its own would have caused me to be concerned about the public safety issue.â
The barrister said the witness had made the assumption that because Noah was able to access this culvert that âtherefore general members of the public also accessed this areaâ.
Dr Cooper said: âIf you said can somebody access the culvert, then the risk is eventuated if it has happened.
âAfter that point your view would be different because the risk has happened.â
Ms Murnaghan said the witness had no evidence that members of the public other than Noah were âhabitually accessing this siteâ.
He said: âNo, other than just looking at the layout and seeing for myself the location and the access.â
The inquest continues.
Source: https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/expert-quite-certain-public-risk-33858834
