Wellington City Council knew the lighting on the Wellington waterfront where a primary school teacher fell into the water and drowned was “inefficient” and “did not meet modern standards”, an ex-staff member told a court.

Reports into possible improvements prioritised “aesthetics” over safety, with fears better lighting could spoil nighttime harbour views, the coronial inquest was told.

The staff member also criticised the council for “sidelining” him and eventually making him redundant, after he pushed for balustrades to be installed along the waterfront to prevent drownings.

Isaac Levings, 25, died in April 2023 after falling into the water near Te Papa after leaving a concert venue.

Levings was removed from the concert for being too intoxicated, the inquest heard yesterday.

Coroner Katharine Greig says the number of deaths at the Wellington waterfront compares unfavourably to those at other waterfronts. Photo / Pool, RNZ

His is one of a string of deaths on the capital’s waterfront, with a previous coronial ruling criticising Wellington City Council’s handling of known safety issues in the area.

During an inquest into the waterfront death of 30-year-old Sandy Calkin in 2021, the council said there was a waterfront fatality every 1.7 years.

The council’s former waterfront and city parks manager, Shane Binnie, today told the coroner part of his role focused on making the waterfront safe and welcoming, which he took “seriously”.

The waterfront was a “large, dynamic and challenging area to manage” and was “perceived to be a safe space” because there was an absence of cars, he said.

Wellington City Council’s former waterfront and city parks manager Shane Binnie. Photo / Wellington City Council

It is the second-busiest commuter area in the capital after Lambton Quay.

When Binnie came into the role in 2023, he saw historic reports into waterfront safety that “did not make for comfortable reading”.

A report from 2005 addressed the importance of helping people feel safe on the waterfront through the use of lighting, but did not want this to happen at the expense of masking nighttime views of the harbour.

Binnie said these reports put “aesthetic” design choices over health and safety priorities.

He said technology had now vastly improved and lights could be directed to illuminate specific areas without risking “over-lighting”.

Tributes for Isaac Levings, including a basketball with “you were the most wonderful teacher, we will all miss you” written on it, piled up outside his classroom door at Elmwood Normal School.

Binnie said the council knew the lighting in the Te Papa Promenade where Levings fell into the water was “inefficient”, “not consistent” and “did not meet current modern standards for lighting in such a prominent location”.

The last 14 minutes of Levings’ life were captured on CCTV cameras and shown in court yesterday.

The footage showed Levings swaying as he left concert venue TSB Arena at 10.34pm, zig-zagging and stumbling along the waterfront with an unsteady gait.

He meandered through many areas that were poorly lit and had no barriers between the walking path and the harbour.

At 10.48pm, a camera caught a shadowy splash in the waterfront near Te Papa, with ripples in the water showing where Levings fell and drowned.

Isaac (from left), Margaret, Charles and James Levings.

Two days later, police divers retrieved his body, which had sunk 10m into the harbour.

Levings’ autopsy report confirmed the cause of his death was drowning but that being drunk contributed to his death.

No recreational drugs were found in his system and he had no reported history of mental health problems.

At the time of his death, Binnie said the inground lighting near the edge of the promenade was not operational, but also said he believed these had aesthetic value and were not safety lights.

After Levings died, the council invested in replacing that lighting.

Binnie also acknowledged that balustrading around the waterfront was sporadic.

There was no balustrading where Levings fell.

After Levings’ death, which he said was “the last straw”, Binnie installed temporary fencing.

Temporary fencing was put up along the Wellington waterfront after Isaac Levings' death but it was taken down late last year. Photo / Mark Mitchell

He recommended the temporary fencing needed to stay on the waterfront until permanent balustrading was put in place.

The temporary fencing proved controversial with people inside the council and members of the public, and was taken down in October 2025.

Two months later, Binnie was made redundant.

Prior to this, he said he had been “sidelined” in decision-making processes, which included being excluded from meetings after he gave evidence at the Calkin inquest.

He said he and others were removed from a council working group by the council’s chief operating officer James Roberts with no explanation.

An evidential statement from Roberts read out in the inquest said Binnie was acting like an “advocate” and was not behaving objectively enough.

Binnie said it seemed the council wanted to find any solution that was not erecting balustrades.

After Levings’ death, the council said it was investigating enhanced edge definition and further fencing to deter people from accessing the wharf edge.

Binnie said he was disappointed the coroner’s recommendations from the inquest into Calkin’s death were yet to be actioned.

Roger Calkin with a photo of his late son, Sandy Calkin, who fell into Wellington Harbour and drowned in July 2021.

There have been multiple deaths along the waterfront in recent years, including that of Calkin, whose body was found in the water near Queens Wharf in July 2021.

Calkin’s father advocated at the time for balustrades to be installed along the most dangerous parts of the wharf area.

A coroner’s report released last year into that case found the drowning might have been prevented if the council had investigated previous deaths and accidents at the waterfront, kept accurate records and heeded experts’ advice.

Coroner Katharine Greig said in that finding it was clear the council knew about identified safety risks at the waterfront but failed to act on them.

Janhavi Gosavi is a Wellington-based journalist for the New Zealand Herald who covers news in the capital.

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Wellington waterfront drowning inquest: Council knew of safety risks before Isaac Levings’ death