According to new documents, two hotel workers in Buenos Aires have been charged following the death of Liam Payne.
The soloist and former One Direction member died on October 16, aged 31, after falling from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentinian prosecutor’s office later shared that his cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.
Later that month, preliminary toxicology tests revealed the musician had pink cocaine and several other substances in his system at the time of his fatal balcony fall.
Now, two months on, two workers at the Buenos Aires hotel have been charged by police.
According to new documents published by Rolling Stone, the judge in charge of the case is looking into charges against two members of staff from the CasaSur Palermo hotel. As outlined in a filing yesterday (December 9), the judge lists the manager and the receptionist head who called the police to the scene as “people charged in the case”.
At time of writing, it is not clear what they are being charged for, although the document does ask that the two be informed of their accusation. According to the outlet, 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.”
They are two of several people connected to the case who are being called upon to face the courts regarding Payne’s death. Already it has been confirmed that two individuals accused of supplying the singer with drugs will be interrogated next Tuesday (December 17).
Similarly, a friend of Payne has been accused of abandonment of a person followed by death. They will be questioned next Wednesday (18), while the two aforementioned hotel staff members will face court on Thursday (19).
Each has the option to refuse to answer questions, and the city’s legal system outlines that the judge presiding over the case must decide whether to prosecute the person or drop them from the case following their interrogation.
Last month, one suspect called Braian Nahuel Paiz spoke to journalist, Guillermo Panizza on Argentinian TV, and said that while he had met the singer twice before his death and taken drugs with him, he never supplied Payne with narcotics nor accepted any money from him.
On October 25, a raid was conducted at the hotel where Payne died, and according to local news site La Nacion, police were searching for further evidence, particularly in the form of documentation, film records and video that could help piece together the final hours of the late singer’s life.
The Guardian reported that officers had seized computer hard drives and the hotel’s security camera footage. Interviews were also conducted with hotel staff as well as several members of the authorities, including technical and medical professionals who have worked on the case. Geoff Payne, Liam’s father, also arrived in Buenos Aires to aid in investigations.
In October, it was also reported that the hotel receptionist head – who is one of the two who has been charged – had made two calls to 911 around the time of Payne’s death. In one, they reportedly described “a guest who is off his head on drugs and alcohol.” They went on to say that “when he is conscious he is destroying everything in the room,” adding: “We need you to send someone, please.’”They also allegedly told the phone operator that they needed help sent “urgently” as “’I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger. 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.’”
The phone operator then apparently confirmed they would send the local medical emergency service (SAME).
In the latest report by RS, the document allegedly states that the prosecutor on the case met with the hotel’s manager and was shown footage from a camera near to where Payne hit the ground. “Given everything shown, it’s clear that there has not been a serious, profound, nor, at least until now, a serious investigation,” the filing reportedly said.
This is a developing story.
In other Liam Payne news, recently his former One Direction bandmate Zayn Malik paid tribute to him on the first night of his UK tour, and later dedicated a song to him while performing in his Wolverhampton hometown. This followed Payne’s funeral on November 20.
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