An Argentine judge has confirmed charges against five people in connection with the death of former One Direction member Liam Payne and ordered two of them to preventive prison terms for supplying drugs.
The judge confirmed the judge’s decision Monday and said one of the two people ordered held in preventive prison, a form of pretrial detention, was an employee of the Buenos Aires hotel where Payne stayed until his death after the crash. The balcony of his room in October.
Officers said the other person was a waiter whom Payne had met at a restaurant. Both men were charged with drug supply and must appear before a judge, said the officer, who asked not to be identified in order to speak about the sentence.
Get national news every day
Get the day’s top news, politics, economy and current affairs headlines delivered to your inbox once a day.
The judge also charged three other people with murder, including a businessman and two hotel managers who were with Payne in Argentina. Officials said they had not been ordered to be detained in preventive detention centers.
Prosecutors first filed charges against three people last November, but did not reveal their names.
Payne fell from the balcony of his room on the third floor of his hotel in an upscale neighborhood of the Argentine capital, Palermo. An autopsy revealed that he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.
Prosecutors also said Payne’s toxicology test showed his body had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants” shortly before his death.
Payne’s autopsy found his injuries were not self-inflicted or the result of physical intervention by another person. The document states that he had no reflexes to protect himself in the event of a fall, so it is possible that he lost consciousness.
Argentine prosecutors also ruled out the possibility that Payne committed suicide.
One Direction has been one of the most successful boy bands of recent times. They announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016, and Payne pursued a solo career, as did former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
