Liam Payne died on October 16 when he fell to his death from the balcony of his hotel in Argentina. He had notably consumed large quantities of synthetic drugs,
Five people are being prosecuted in Argentina for their alleged responsibility in the death of Liam Payne, ex-member of the boy band One Direction who died after a fall from the balcony of his hotel in October, the country’s justice system announced on Monday, December 30.
“Three of the accused were charged without preventive detention for manslaughter, and the other two for the offense of supplying narcotics with placement in preventive detention”indicated the Argentine prosecutor’s office in a press release, identifying the five people only by their initials.
Liam Payne, 31, was found dead on October 16 following “multiple traumas” and a “internal and external bleeding” after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, where he had been staying for a few days. According to the investigation, he had consumed alcohol, cocaine and antidepressants before his death.
Hotel manager among those prosecuted
“RLN, representative of the victim and who accompanied Payne on this trip to Buenos Aires to renew his American visa; the hotel manager, GAM, and the hotel front desk manager, ERG, are the three accused as perpetrators of manslaughter […] punishable by a sentence of one to five years in prison.declared the prosecution.
A hotel employee identified by the initials EDP and a waiter met by Mr. Payne in Buenos Aires, whose initials are BNP, are indicted for “supply of narcotics” […]which is punishable by a sentence of four to fifteen years in prison. Both were placed in pre-trial detention.
At the beginning of November, the Argentine prosecutor’s office presented charges of selling drugs and abandoning a vulnerable person against three people, without disclosing their names. This Monday’s decision means that the five people mentioned will be sent to court.
The judge in charge of the case, Laura Bruniard, noted “actions et omissions” from Liam Payne’s representative, before and at the time of the musician’s fall.
The accused “failed in his duties of care, assistance and assistance” and abandoned Liam Payne “to his fate, knowing him incapable of fending for himself, knowing that he suffered from multiple previous addictions – to alcohol and cocaine – and having full knowledge of the state of intoxication, vulnerability and absence defense in which he was”according to the prosecutor’s press release.
The judge said it was also appropriate to prosecute the hotel manager and the front desk manager, who arranged for Payne to be taken to his room even though they could see that he “did not care not standing due to substance use.”
Tributes to the singer
After the announcement of the musician’s death, tributes took place in several cities around the world, including London on October 20. Thousands of people sang in chorus the songs of the former boy band, which enjoyed dazzling success from 2010 to 2016.
In a 2023 video posted on his YouTube account, Liam Payne confided that he had been admitted to a rehab center for his alcoholism. One Direction, who was one of the most lucrative boy bands in the world, released their fifth and final studio album, “Made in the AM” in 2016. The same year, the group announced a break, never formalized as a separation.
The members of the boy band then began solo careers with varying degrees of success. Liam Payne released his first album, “LP1”, in 2019. Last year he announced that he was working on a second album and released a new single in March 2024.
