An Argentine judge confirmed charges against five people in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of the popular music group One Direction, and ordered preventive prison for two of them for supplying him with drugs.
A judicial officer confirmed Monday (Dec 30) the judge’s decision and said that one of the two people ordered to be put under preventive prison – a form of pre-trial detention – was an employee of the hotel in Buenos Aires where Payne was staying. The officer said the other person was a waiter Payne met in a restaurant.
The judge charged three other people with manslaughter, including a businessman who was with Payne in Argentina and two managers of the hotel. The official said that they were not ordered under preventive prison.
Prosecutors initially filed charges in November against three people but didn’t reveal their names.
PAYNE FELL FROM THIRD FLOOR
Payne fell from his hotel room’s balcony on the third floor in the upscale neighbourhood of Palermo in the Argentine capital. His autopsy said he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.
Prosecutors also said that Payne’s toxicological exams showed that his body had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant” in the moments before his death.
The autopsy showed his injuries were caused neither by self-harm nor physical intervention of others. The document also said that he did not have the reflex of protecting himself in the fall, which suggests he might have been unconscious. Prosecutors ruled out the possibility that Payne died by suicide.
One Direction was among the most successful boy bands in recent times. It announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne – like his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson – pursued a solo career.
