A mother who took a drunken Auckland school pupil home from a party told an inquest today that he was dead when she checked on him in the morning.
Rachel Carter was giving evidence at the opening of the Auckland inquest into the death of 16-year-old King's College pupil James Webster in May this year.
Mrs Carter said she took James home from her daughter's birthday party and put him to bed because he was drunk.
When she checked on him about 2am he was still breathing but when she woke up at 7.15am and checked him he was cold and stiff and she knew he was dead.
Police Sergeant Paul Black said James died of acute alcohol poisoning. He had a blood alcohol level of 391 micrograms per 100ml of blood.
Nothing else was detected in his blood and police said there was nothing suspicious about his death. No-one had been charged.
The inquest before the Coroner Gordon Matenga is expected to last until the end of the week.
