“It is the common people’s duty to police the police.” – Steven Magee
“The absence of evidence is certainly not the evidence of absence.” – Donald Rumsfeld
“It is not the function of the Government to stop the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.” – Justice Robert Jackson
When engaged in a conversation with a friend this week, I stated (unknowingly) that the PSNI “might” be ‘ballsy’ enough to try to use the COVID-19 Pandemic as an excuse in failing to conduct a robust investigation into Noah Donohoe’s death and as a reason for refusing the timely supply of freedom of information. It took me to read their response to my own information request before I believed with my own eyes that they are doing just that. We are each only 28 years old and did not live through the bulk of horrors of the Troubles. But that poses the hefty question – How exactly does the Coronavirus prevent administrative PSNI personnel from more or less logging into a police database and releasing some information, by law, that is within the ‘public interest’ clause? Are they afraid that they will transmit the ‘virus’ via email? And how were they able to arrest Jamie Shaw for his disturbing social media content on Noah’s disappearance, but have not seemed to question or arrest anyone in connection to the more serious matter of the death?
And that’s the problem we now have. Emergency powers legislation and measures taken to tackle COVID-19 will be used as “cover” for actions and inaction in this case. Yes, Michelle O’Neill has rightfully to her credit thrown her energy behind the campaign of the Donohoe family in seeking answers, but what clandestine ‘campaigns’ will be “energised” into frustrating such decent efforts against them? No politician will likely then want to collapse Stormont again if a second wave of COVID-19 strikes; but there is a dark issue stalking the very existence of our Government as it presently stands – whether or not some Ministers still have full confidence in the PSNI and Police Ombudsman’s approaches to the tragedy ‘imprisoning’ the Donohoe family.
Within the American legal system, which is a model for openness (having prosecuted Presidents, Vice Presidents and Attorney Generals) there exists a term called “Force Majeure”, which basically equates on a worldwide scale to unforeseeable circumstances ‘frustrating’ the ordinary course of events and life, or the fulfilling of normal obligations in society. While Senior Officers within the PSNI may conveniently seek to use the UK interpretation of this as their “ace card” for inaction, the ordinary citizens within this jurisdiction should seek to do so in exercising their legitimate democratic rights in ‘exceptional’ times to consider sacking both the Justice Minister and the Police Ombudsman in a requested ‘vote of no confidence’.
Because one thing is for sure: numbers (unlike people) do not lie. And the jaw-dropping statistics relating to unresolved complaints against the Police, as well as reports of historical and current state negligence by the forces of law and order, mean that we practically (in my opinion) salary and empower a “Minister for Injustice”, with full “mercs and perks” to enjoy the trappings of high office while presiding over (in effect) families dying off before any transparency is served. It is one of the reasons we also, per head of the population, have the highest legal aid costs in the entire world.
However, we must ask where do we go next in exerting collective efforts to free the Donohoe family from the nightmare the state has evidently left them in (without any answers at all)? What can be done in the meantime to support and assist them to the hilt in their campaign for fairness and equity? I am not a spokesperson for the family but a number of concerned citizens have courteously taken the time to message me with suggestions, including but not limited to:
1. Fundraising to establish an annual Noah Donohoe Youth Award in recognition for outstanding leadership qualities at both his school (Alma Mater) and as an Aisling Award within the community as a whole.
2. Funding a memorial plaque at Noah’s school, as well as a portrait to personify his memory.
3. Organising a march for truth and justice, including music, into this promising young man’s tragic disappearance and death, that would include a picket of the Ombudsman’s Office.
4. Every concerned citizen gathering together in an agreed venue to pray and celebrate aspects of this young lad’s life while paying tribute to the gracious efforts of his mother and family throughout it all.
5. That we, as a society, should (if needed) dig deep and ensure the Donohoe family have all and any legal or other costs met by us, as their fellow citizens, for their legal affairs and any pro-bono organisations close to their hearts. This would help establish a precedent and standard both in living memory of Noah and to protect the salience of other children too.
6. A suggestion has been made that we petition our MLAs for an urgent debate on the matter and a ‘vote of no confidence’ in the Police Ombudsman – So that whichever ‘career-driven’ Civil Servant follows her will not be able to ignore the massive amount of correspondence on Noah Donohoe in their Inbox and postal system.
If something is not going to end well, then you should at least seek to ensure that it ends constructively. Whatever the outcome of the Inquest and legal proceedings, there is a case for serious overhaul of policing structures in the North to hold them to account, including prosecutions if needed for potential “criminal negligence”. The fact that a young Catholic lad of mixed race went missing and died mysteriously in an area known to the world for right-wing extremism and scenes akin to the “Nuremberg Rallies”, while a global collapse in faith for policing occurs, adds weight to the potential hypothesis that the PSNI have overseen not a standard prosecution but a persecution. The time has come for others to stop calling simply just for radical change across the world (with the Black Lives Matter Movement) but also on the streets of Belfast, Strabane and Derry, to free the Donohoe family from this insidious nightmare of darkness the civil authorities have created.
To the Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist community, I ask that you look back to your history – the changes that will follow from this case will overhaul the nefarious systems which you also are condemned to live under. Just like in the ‘Siege of Derry’ back in 1689, a popular movement behind Noah Donohoe will sail forth (like Noah’s Ark) from this tragedy that will change not just children’s and policing legislation in the North; but as a case across the world against injustice and state negligence. Set aside political and religious differences and link arms to show the world that while grisly dictatorships and countries with appalling human rights records may tolerate the disappearance and death of children, the people in this part of the island will suffer no such injustice. This could well be the “boom” down the communal river that will end the siege of division and sectarianism imprisoning both traditions.
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