Opinion

Prayers for Noah Donohoe

The discovery of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe's body on Saturday, after a massive search operation in north Belfast over the last week, was a heart-breaking development.

Noah, a student at St Malachy's College who lived in the south of the city, had vanished in mysterious circumstances while cycling in the Shore Road district on the evening of Sunday, June 21.

Hundreds of volunteers from across north Belfast and beyond came together to comb all the surrounding streets and parkland areas in carefully coordinated attempts to find any clues about the disappearance of the schoolboy.

It was an outstanding response, involving all sections of society, and everyone who gave up their time to support the emergency services deserves the highest praise.

There were hopes that Noah might turn up safe and well but a specialist unit eventually located his body deep inside a 1km-long storm drain in the neighbourhood where he was last seen, with police saying no crime was suspected.

There will be enormous sympathy for his mother, Fiona, who previously sent out an emotional message of gratitude to all those who tried to find her only child, as well as his relatives and friends in the difficult days ahead.

It is also essential that police disclose further details about what happened to Noah, as very little information about a case involving issues obviously in the public interest has so far been released.

We do not know why a young boy, wearing a rucksack containing his laptop, travelled alone across the city on a Sunday evening, with detectives so far unable to establish if he was intending to meet anyone.

It is also completely unclear how Noah apparently came to fall off his bike along North Queen Street, sustaining a head injury which may have caused a period of disorientation and resulted in him taking off his clothes.

Police were correct to warn about the dangers of circulating rumours and speculation via social media while Noah was still missing, but, now that his body has been recovered, the basic facts of the tragedy require clarification.

Noah was by all accounts a particularly gifted person in academic, musical and sporting terms, and the prayers of the entire community will be with his grieving family.