Lion Rock fall victim made 'a silly, silly mistake'

A local lifeguard, Jonathan Webber, said Ms Greer was wearing knee-high boots when she slipped. Photo / Jason Dorday

A woman who fell to her death from Piha's Lion Rock after a late-night climb with friends made "a silly, silly mistake", a family friend says.

Yesterday, Lianne Greer, a 36-year-old from Whenuapai, was named as the woman who died of injuries suffered when she fell from the rock at 2am on Saturday.

She was pronounced dead at the scene despite her friends' frantic efforts to keep her alive until emergency services arrived.

Ms Greer's distraught mother was yesterday travelling back to New Zealand from Australia and her sister from the United Kingdom.

A local lifeguard, Jonathan Webber, said Ms Greer was wearing knee-high boots when she slipped. Police are not treating her death as suspicious, but refused to say whether alcohol or drugs played a part in the accident, as speculated on a local website.

"This is a tragic accident and serves as a reminder to all to act in a safe manner when out socialising," a police statement said.

A close friend of Ms Greer's family told the Herald yesterday that Ms Greer's mother, who lived in Australia, was devastated.

The friend, who declined to be named, said she only knew what the police had told her about the incident.

"My only comment is that it is a silly, silly mistake ... a very, very silly accident.

"I know that there are probably a few rumours going around, but what I have been told by the police was that it simply was an accident."

The incident is not the first time people have been injured after falling from Lion Rock.

In 2010 two men, aged 18 and 31, suffered critical injuries after falling more than 60 metres after walking up the rock just after midnight.