An appeals court has dismissed involuntary homicide charges against three people accused in the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne, who plunged from a third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires last year, according to a ruling seen Thursday.
Two others accused of supplying drugs to the former boy band star were remanded in custody pending the start of their trial, according to the court decision by three judges dated Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Payne, 31, had consumed cocaine, alcohol and a prescription antidepressant before falling from the balcony of his room at the Hotel CasaSur in the City neighbourhood of Palmero last October 16.
An autopsy found he had died from “multiple trauma” and "internal and external haemorrhaging."
The former One Direction singer-songwriter had spoken publicly about struggling with substance abuse and coping with achieving fame at an early age.
His death prompted a global outpouring of grief from family, former bandmates and fans, with gatherings of thousands of mourners around the world.
Charges were dropped against Rogelio Luis Nores, Payne's friend representative in Argentina, as well as Gilda Agustina Martín, the manager of the hotel, and Esteban Reynaldo Grassi, the head of the hotel's reception.
The judges exonerated the three "expressly stating that the formation of this case does not affect the good name and honour they enjoyed" before the events that took place last October.
But legal proceedings will continue against Ezequiel David Pereyra and Braian Nahuel Paiz for the “delivery of narcotics.” Both were remanded in custody.
Pereyra was an employee of the hotel, while Paiz was a waiter at another establishment in Puerto Madero.
In November, Paiz denied in a television interview that he had given Payne drugs in exchange for money, although he did admit that he met and spent time with him.
"We spent the night, we got high, because that's the reality, something intimate happened," he told Telefe Noticias.
Pereyra and Paiz delivered cocaine to Payne “during his stay at the hotel following advance payment” between October 14 and 16.
The document details that on the afternoon of Payne’s death a receptionist described the singer as “exhibíting an aggressive attitude, drugged out or drunk with eyes wide open,” while a worker at the hotel heard noises “coming from his room as if he were smashing everything up and yelling,” immediately alerting her colleagues.
Rafael Cúneo Libarona, Nores' lawyer and the brother of Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona told AFP that he is very satisfied with the verdict because his client “was not responsible.”
“The sentence also realises that Rogelio Nores was unaware of the emotional crisis of Liam Payne due to the enormous quantities of alcohol and drugs consumed in his last five or six hours,” said the lawyer.
“The court ruled that Rogelio Nores was just a friend helping him at every moment but when Liam Payne jumped (to his death) he had already left the hotel an hour beforehand to pursue his professional activities,” said Cúneo Liberona.
The enormous fame of the British band One Direction began in 2010 thanks to a television talent show. They broke up in 2016.
Payne enjoyed some solo success before his career stalled. In the years since Payne spoke openly of his struggle with alcoholism.
– TIMES/AFP
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