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Five people charged in connection with Liam Payne’s death, prosecutor says
Five people have been charged in connection with the death of former One Direction star Liam Payne in Argentina, the country’s prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Monday.
The British singer fell to his death from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires in October. He was 31. A person identified as Payne’s “representative,” as well as the hotel’s manager and its head of reception, have been charged with manslaughter, the prosecutor’s office said. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison.
A hotel employee and a local waiter have also been charged with supplying Payne with cocaine during his stay, and the judge has ordered them to be jailed ahead of their trial. They could face up to 15 years in prison.
The court has not disclosed the identities of the accused, beyond their professional roles in relation to the victim.
Payne had alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system before his death, Argentine prosecutors said last month.
Judge Laura Bruniard, who is in charge of the case, concluded that, due to his state of intoxication, Payne would have confused the balcony of the hotel room with a possible exit, and as he tried to leave through the balcony, he lost his life in an unplanned fall.
Citing evidence gathered from expert reports, testimonies and footage from cameras in the hotel, the judge said Payne had been in the hotel lobby in an evident state of intoxication minutes before his fall on October 16.
“At 4:54 p.m. that day, Liam Payne was unconscious in the reception of Casa Sur and was dragged by three people” to his room, Bruniard said.
Three people face preliminary charges over Liam Payne’s death in Buenos Aires
The hotel manager is accused of witnessing the moment when Payne was in the lobby and of “enabling, at least by omission,” the transfer of the victim to a room that had a balcony, “which was a source of risk for Payne,” according to the judge.
The receptionist is accused of guiding a group of three people who dragged Payne from the lobby to the room. “The conduct that should have been carried out was to keep him safe in an area without sources of danger, in company and until he was provided with medical care,” the judge also concluded.
Payne’s representative is accused of leaving the hotel 50 minutes before Payne fell, despite being aware of the singer’s vulnerable state. The defendant “failed to fulfill his duties of care, assistance and aid,” said the statement from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, “leaving (Payne) to his fate, knowing that he was incapable of taking care of himself, knowing that the accused suffered from multiple addictions.” The representative, who is American, has been barred from leaving Argentina.
Although the hotel manager, the receptionist and the representative are accused of manslaughter, the judge determined that they did not act together or in a planned manner.
As for those accused of supplying narcotics, Bruniard has ordered them to serve preventive detention.
Payne had spoken openly about his struggles with substance abuse and his mental health. In the summer of 2023, Payne said he was marking six months of sobriety after completing treatment in a US facility. Payne’s tour was set to kick off in South America in September of that year, but he had to postpone the scheduled dates after suffering a kidney infection.
Payne’s death shocked the music world. He rocketed to global stardom as part of One Direction, one of Britain’s biggest ever boybands which was created on the British X Factor in 2010. The group, which included members Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik, announced an “indefinite hiatus” in 2016.
The four former bandmates attended Payne’s funeral service in Amersham, northwest of London, in late November. Music mogul Simon Cowell – who masterminded the group’s formation on the X Factor – was also at the service.
Shortly before his death, Payne had been seen in Argentina attending his former bandmate Horan’s concert.
On the night of October 16, staff at the hotel where Payne had been staying requested urgent police assistance. In an emergency call obtained by CNN’s Argentina affiliate Todo Noticias, a staff member told police: “We have a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol … He breaks things up. He is tearing the whole room apart.”