Three people have been charged in connection with Liam Payne’s death in Argentina for supplying narcotics and the abandonment of a person followed by death.
Toxicology tests found that when he died, Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine, and a prescription antidepressant in his body, prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.
The former One Direction star fell to his death on 16 October from a third floor hotel balcony in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.
Guests at the time said they had heard banging and doors slamming throughout the afternoon, before a loud scream. Staff had called emergency services to report a guest who was “overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” who was “destroying” a room. The 31-year-old’s body was found in the late afternoon in Casa Sur’s internal courtyard.
Police pronounced Payne dead at the scene, saying he had suffered a “very serious injury” to the base of the skull. The forensic medical corps later concluded that Payne’s death was caused by “multiple traumas” and “internal and external haemorrhage” resulting from the fall.
One of the three accused reportedly visited Payne regularly during his two-week stay in the city. They have been charged with the abandonment of a person followed by death – a sentence of which carries between five to 15 years in prison – and the facilitation of narcotics.
The second person, who is a hotel employee, “must answer for two proven supplies of cocaine”, prosecutors said. The third person has also been accused of supplying narcotics on 14 October.
Prosecutors said that officials had collected several dozen testimonies, and conducted nine raids on homes across Buenos Aires province, which resulted in the seizure of several personal devices. More than 800 hours of video footage have also been analysed.
In their statement, the prosecutors also ruled out suicide, saying: “The lack of defence or self-preservation reflex in the fall, together with other relevant data from his consumption, allow us to conclude that Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall.”
“Physical intervention by a third party” was also eliminated as a possibility.
Payne, who was born in Wolverhampton, England, became part of One Direction after appearing on British reality show The X Factor as a teenager. The group, which was one of the biggest boybands of all time, sold more than 70m records worldwide, before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.
Payne had previously opened up about struggles with his mental health, saying that during the height of the band’s fame he began using alcohol and an epilepsy drug as a mood stabiliser to counter the “erratic highs and lows” he was experiencing.
Payne’s father, Geoff, travelled to Buenos Aires after his son’s death, meeting fans and visiting the British Cemetery where his son’s remains were being kept. Earlier this week, Payne’s body was repatriated to the UK.
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