It has been over two months since the tragic demise of former One Direction member Liam Payne. The British singer was found dead on the grounds of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 16, after a fall from the balcony of his hotel room on the third floor.
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Now, according to Argentine news agency Infobae, an Argentine court has indicted five individuals over Payne's death, with charges including negligent homicide and narcotics distribution.
Rogelio “Roger” Nores
Liam’s friend, Roger Nores, an Argentine businessman, is one among the accused. According to the security camera footage from the hotel, Nores was seen leaving Payne – heavily under the influence of drugs – unattended in his hotel room an hour before his fall. Though no arrest warrant has been issued, he is prohibited from leaving the country.
"I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened. There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left," he told the Daily Mail.
Braian Paiz and Ezequiel Pereyra
Piaz was a waiter employed at a restaurant in Puerto Madero, a luxurious neighbourhood in Buenos Aires. Text messages between Paiz and Payne proved that the waiter was one of Payne’s drug suppliers – providing him with cocaine. Piaz was later fired from the restaurant.
Pereyra was an employee at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. He, too, is accused of supplying narcotics to the singer, and was suspended for 30 days on the day of Payne’s death for “having given drugs to a guest”.
Gilda Martín and Esteban Grassi
Martín and Grassi, both employees at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel, have been charged with manslaughter.
Martín, who serves as the operations manager at the hotel, was charged with negligent homicide. A CCTV footage obtained by the police shows three hotel employees carrying a convulsing Payne from the hotel lobby to his hotel room, less than an hour before his fall from the balcony. Not providing the singer with medical care and leaving him in his room has raised netizens' eyebrows.
Grassi, the hotel receptionist, made the 911 call to the Argentine police, warning them about Payne. “We need you to send someone urgently because, well, I don't know if the guest's life is at risk. He is in a room with a balcony. And, well, we are a little afraid that he will do something that will put his life at risk.”
Liam Payne’s death
Though officials assumed it was a suicide at first, toxicology tests found hallucinogenic drugs in Payne's system, including alcohol, cocaine and anti-depressants. This led the investigator to rule the death as “accidental” since he did not have a clear awareness of his surroundings.
“The lack of defence or self-preservation reflex in the fall, together with other relevant data from his consumption, allow us to conclude that Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall,” the prosecutors said in a statement.
Just weeks prior to his passing, on October 2, Payne was spotted attending a concert by his former bandmate, Niall Horan, in Argentina. He had been in the country with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, who left a few days before his death.
Payne’s funeral was conducted on November 20 and attended only by close family and friends.
