Liam Payne: Charges against three people dropped as two people face prosecution over alleged drug supply

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Liam Payne: Charges against three people dropped as two people face prosecution over alleged drug supply

Following investigations into the death of One Direction star Liam Payne’s death in Argentine, a court has dropped charges against three people.

Charges of criminal negligence had been laid against five people in relation to the singer’s shock death, with three people now let off the hook.

The former One Direction singer fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires in October 2024.

In its decision issued on Wednesday, the Argentine appeals court ordered the other two defendants in the case to remain in custody.

They face prosecution on charges they supplied the famed British boy band star with narcotics.

The ruling drops charges against three key defendants: Rogelio Nores, an Argentine businessman and friend of Payne who accompanied the singer during his trip in Buenos Aires; Gilda Martin, the manager of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel where Payne died on October 16; and Esteban Grassi, the hotel’s main receptionist.

The charge of negligent ********* carries a sentence of one to five years in prison in Argentina.

A toxicology report from tests taken after an autopsy revealed that Payne, 31, had alcohol, ******** and a prescription antidepressant in his system when he fell from the balcony.

Prosecutors argued that Nores had failed to comply with his duties of care by leaving Payne alone while inebriated.

The court sided with defence lawyers who contended that Nores had no legal, moral or social duty to care for Payne, and he was outside the hotel at the time of his friend’s death.

The two hotel employees, Martin and Grassi, were in the Casa Sur lobby on October 16 when they saw Payne severely intoxicated and decided to take him to his room with the help of others, investigators determined.

Prosecutors said the men should have kept Payne away from his hotel room, where a balcony posed a clear danger, until the singer could receive proper medical care.

On Wednesday, the court ruled that prosecutors failed to prove how taking Payne to his hotel room “constituted unlawful, unruly, clumsy, reckless, imprudent or negligent conduct”.

The court also ordered the other two defendants – Ezequiel David Pereyra, a former employee at CasaSur Hotel and Braian Paiz, a waiter who had served Payne at a Buenos Aires restaurant – to remain in detention on charges that they supplied Payne with narcotics.

The charge they face carries a sentence of four to 15 years in prison.

Payne’s sudden death drew an outpouring of grief around the world from heartbroken fans of One Direction, among the best-selling boy bands ever.

– With AP

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