Parents ask for answers over son's fatal binge

James Webster. Photo / Supplied

Auckland mayor John Banks' son was among a group of young people who "egged on" schoolmate James Webster to keep drinking.

James, a 16-year-old student at Auckland's King's College, died in May after binge-drinking neat vodka at an 18th birthday party in Grey Lynn.

Last night, his parents Charles and Penny Webster revealed on TVNZ's Close Up programme that only a handful of parents and students who were at the party had been in contact with them, to give details about the night that their teenage son died.

Mrs Webster said the family had been told their son had been "egged on" to keep drinking by several young people at the party.

One of those people - who was pictured with her son on the night he died - was Alex Banks, 17-year-old son of Auckland mayor John Banks.

"The nature of the egging on - we're not sure - but one of [the students] was regretful afterwards," Mrs Webster said.

"He said: 'I wish I hadn't made him drink the vodka'."

That student was Alex Banks.

His father, Auckland Super City mayoral candidate John Banks, said he had grounded his son and got him to take a first aid course.

"I said to Alex, this is very sad for our families. And you're going to have to stay home and not go out at night until you've undertaken a comprehensive first aid course, so that you understand the dangers of alcohol.

"It's a huge thing for me to live with, but it's very, very painful for the Webster family," Mr Banks said.

Texts sent from James' phone revealed a boy who was looking to prove something to his friends, his mother said.

"They gave us an insight into what he was thinking. There were texts like: 'I want to get rowdy, not coma' [and] 'I can handle almost anything' - [that] was a sad one to read.

"He actually was almost shameful. But somehow I think he thought he had to do it to be a man - to be one of the boys," Mrs Webster said.

Several "facts" that emerged about James' death turned out not to be true, his parents said, including the idea that James had stolen the bottle of vodka from his grandmother's liquor cabinet.

Mr Webster last night told Close Up that another student - a 17-year-old boy - had turned up to the party with the bottle.

That was something that the family had been trying to investigate for months now, they said, but neither the boy, nor his parents, had been willing to talk to them.

How that teenager got the bottle of vodka when he was not old enough to buy alcohol, was something the family wanted investigated.

Mr Webster said: "If they felt they've done something wrong, saying they've done something wrong and standing up like a man would be a brave and courageous thing to do."

The boy's family has since hired a lawyer.