MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Five suspects arraigned in death of former One Direction's Liam Payne

Payne is believed to have consumed a mixture of alcohol, pink cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, and the antidepressant sertraline prior to falling from the balcony

Argentine prosecutors Monday arraigned 5 people in connection with the Oct.16 death of former One Direction's British singer Liam Payne in Buenos Aires, which was ruled not a suicide.

Among those indicted were hotel worker Ezequiel Pereyra and restaurant waiter Braian Paiz, who allegedly supplied the musician with the substances detected in his body. Both confessed to that much but denied perceiving any seriousness in Payne's condition. “We spent the night, we got high, something intimate happened. He took cocaine. I didn't see him in bad shape,” Paiz told Telefé.

Payne fell to his death from a third floor while highly intoxicated. In addition, businessman Rogelio “Roger” Nores was charged with manslaughter and requested AR$ 50 million in bail (some US$ 50,000). He was also banned from leaving the country.

The other two defendants are hotel manager Gilda Martín and Chief Security Officer Esteban Grassi. Martin faces charges of wilful omission after ignoring warnings about Payne's behavior, while Grassi is charged with concealment for failing to report irregularities at the hotel promptly.

In the post-mortem, Payne, 31, showed “traces in his body of a poly-consumption of alcohol, cocaine, and a prescribed antidepressant” in the previous 72 hours. His death, however, was caused by “poly traumatisms” and “an internal and external hemorrhage” resulting from the fall off the balcony of his third-floor room. He was already in a state that he even failed to protect himself in the fall, whence it was inferred that “he may have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness.” The medical examination also ruled out self-injury and physical intervention by any third parties as other possible causes of death.

One Direction was One of the most successful bands in recent times, One Direction went on indefinite hold in 2016 as Payne and the other members - (Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson) pursued solo careers.

Nores' case is worsened by over 800 hours of security video footage showing him coming in and out of Payne's room, which suggests knowledge of the situation leading up to the tragedy. “Nores failed to comply with his duties of care, assistance, and aid to Liam James Payne, not only because of a pre-existing legal duty but also because of specific functions of guidance and personal accompaniment, previously coordinated and accepted by the relevance and activities of his profession, abandoning him to his fate, leaving him unable to fend for himself, knowing that the defendant suffered from multiple previous addictions,” the Judge claimed. Nores' lawyer replied that his client was neither “Payne's doctor, nor lawyer, representative or therapeutic companion.”

Payne is believed to have consumed a mixture of alcohol, pink cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, and the antidepressant sertraline prior to falling from the balcony. Emergency calls to police from hotel staff described a guest who had consumed “too many drugs and alcohol” and was “trashing the room.”

Paiz and Pereyra face sentences of 4 to 15 years for drug supply, while the case of the three others would be more severe.