Five people have reportedly been charged over Liam Payne’s death (Picture: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Five people have reportedly been charged over Liam Payne’s death, after he fell from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
The One Direction star died while staying at the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16, aged 31.
An autopsy later confirmed he died from multiple injuries sustained in his fall that led to ‘internal and external haemorrhaging’.
An investigation has been ongoing into his death, with several arrests already made.
It’s now been reported by local media that five people have been charged, with two remanded in custody.
According to infobae, one of those charged is Payne’s friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores, who has reportedly been charged with negligent homicide and is prohibited from leaving the country.
Two hotel managers, Gilda Martin and Esteban Grassi, have reportedly been charged with manslaughter, while employees Braian Paiz and Ezequiel Pereyra have both been accused of supplying Payne drugs.
Payne died while staying at the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16, aged 31 (Picture: Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Atlantis The Royal)
Earlier reports stated three people had been arrested and formally charged with ‘abandonment of a person followed by death, supply, and facilitation of narcotics’, with the crimes punishable by a prison sentence of up to 15 years on conviction, if found guilty.
It had also previously been claimed Nores’ home was raided, however, he denied the reports, saying: ‘I never abandoned Liam, I’m really heartbroken with this tragedy, and I’ve been missing my friend every day.’
According to legal documents published by Rolling Stone earlier this month, the judge in charge of the case was looking into charges against the hotel manager and the receptionist head who called the police to the scene.
The documents read: ‘Since there is sufficient reason to suspect that they have participated in the investigated act, we ask that the following people give a statement.’
It was also believed that the hotel receptionist made two 911 calls around the time of Payne’s death.
Fans have been left mourning the One Direction star (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
His funeral was held in November (Picture: Tony Kershaw / SWNS)
In one, they reportedly described ‘a guest who is off his head on drugs and alcohol.’
‘When he is conscious, he is destroying everything in the room,’ they said, urging the operator to ‘send someone, please’ and to do so ‘urgently’.
They allegedly said they feared the guest’s life could be ‘in danger’, adding: ‘They must be in a room that has a balcony. And, well, we’re a little bit worried he’ll do something, that he’ll put his life at risk.’
Following the reports, it was claimed employees Paiz and Pereyra were ‘retaining their right to remain silent’.
Braian had earlier told an Argentine TV journalist he had consumed marijuana and Payne musician had taken cocaine during a rendezvous at the hotel, but he insisted in his interview with Guillermo Panizza on Telefe Noticias: ‘I never took drugs to him or accepted any money.’
Pereyra has not made any public comment so far since it emerged he had been placed under formal investigation.
An autopsy confirmed he died from multiple injuries sustained in his fall that led to ‘internal and external haemorrhaging’. (Picture: Marc Piasecki/GC Images)
Nores told a TMZ documentary examining the life and death of Payne that he was ‘in good spirits and perfectly balanced’ the day he died, and refuted claims the singer was acting erratically and was intoxicated shortly before his October 16 fatal fall from his third-floor hotel balcony.
The businessman, who was fighting accusations he abandoned Payne before his death amid claims he was the singer’s ‘de facto’ manager, also protested his innocence after being named locally as one of the men under investigation.
He said in an earlier statement: ‘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.
‘I could have never imagined something like this would happen.
‘I’ve given my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and I haven’t spoken to any police officer or prosecutor ever since.
‘I wasn’t Liam’s manager. He was just my very dear friend.’
An investigation into his death is ongoing (Picture: Getty)
Prosecutors said in a lengthy statement released on November 7 before the number of suspects increased to five that three men they did not identify by name were being formally investigated on suspicion of abandoning a person who subsequently died and supplying and facilitating drugs.
The statement described one as the person who ‘routinely accompanied Liam during his stay in Buenos Aires.’
Prosecutors also said that the idea Payne died by suicide had been ruled out and said he was in a state of ‘semi or total unconsciousness’ as he fell to his death from his hotel balcony when he ‘didn’t know what he was doing.’
They said of the hotel worker and the alleged ‘drug dealer’: ‘The second suspect is a hotel employee who must respond for two proven supplies of cocaine to Liam Payne during the time he was in the hotel.
‘The third is also a drug dealer who is being investigated on suspicion of another two clearly proven supplies of cocaine at two different times on October 14.’
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A week after Payne’s death, a raid was conducted on his hotel suite and, according to local news outlet La Nacion, police were searching for further evidence that could help them piece together his final moments, with The Guardian reporting that police had seized computer hard drives and the hotel’s security camera footage.
Several members of the authorities, plus other hotel staff, were interviewed, with Payne’s father spending three weeks in Argentina to assist with the investigations.
The Little Things hitmaker rose to fame alongside his former bandmates Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and Harry Styles on The X Factor in 2010.
Following Payne’s death, the group, who have been on indefinite hiatus since 2015, released a heartbreaking joint statement on how much they will miss him, while individual tributes declared Payne their ‘brother’.
Payne shared a son, Bear, seven, with ex-girlfriend Cheryl, and is survived by parents Geoff and Karen Payne, older sisters Nicola and Ruth, and girlfriend Kate Cassidy.
His funeral was held in November, with his former band member, friends and family present.
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