Liam Payne: Five charged in connection with singer’s death

Five people have been charged in connection with the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne in Argentina, the authorities there say.

The 31-year-old star died on 16 October after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.

The hotel’s manager, Gilda Martin, and its receptionist, Esteban Grassi, as well as Payne’s friend Roger Nores, have been charged with manslaughter, Argentina’s prosecutor’s office says.

Ezequiel Pereyra, who also worked at the hotel, and Braian Paiz, a waiter, have been charged with supplying drugs.

Under Argentina’s legal system, the prosecutor’s office gathers evidence, which it then presents to a judge, who has to decide whether to proceed to trial.

According to a statement released by the prosecutor’s office, Judge Laura Bruniard already took the decision to proceed to the next stage on Friday.

The defendants’ lawyers can appeal against that decision. If their appeals are not successful, the trial phase starts.

In court documents, Judge Bruniard listed the charges against the five suspects, who are referred to by their initials, as is the custom in court documents at this stage of the proceedings.

A post-mortem examination determined his cause of death as “multiple trauma” and “internal and external haemorrhage” as a result of the fall from the hotel balcony.

According to the prosecutor’s office, medical reports also suggested Payne may have fallen into a state of semi- or total unconsciousness.

The prosecutor’s office said this ruled out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act by Payne, and they had concluded the singer did not know what he was doing nor have any comprehension of his actions.

Speaking to US celebrity news outlet TMZ after Payne’s death, Roger Nores said he was a “very good friend” of the singer, and they had spent time together on the day the star died.

He said Payne “seemed playful and happy” when he left him about an hour before the musician fell from the balcony.

After Payne’s death, police found substances in his hotel room and objects and furniture that had been damaged.

The hotel staff had made two calls to emergency services saying they had a guest who had taken “too many drugs and alcohol” and was “trashing the entire room,” it was previously reported.

Payne became one of the most recognisable names in pop after appearing on The X Factor and rising to fame with the boyband One Direction in the 2010s before the band went on an indefinite hiatus in January 2016.

The singer’s funeral was held in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, last month.

His former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik were among the mourners, alongside Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy and his former partner Cheryl, with whom he shares a son.

    READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE