A judge in Argentina has allowed charges to be brought against five individuals allegedly involved with the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne.
In a Monday statement, the Argentinian Prosecutor’s Office announced that on December 27, Judge Laura Bruniard had allowed the five accused to continue with their cases. Sources say that a trial date will be announced in January.
Among those charged are a hotel employee, and a waiting staff member who allegedly provided narcotics before Payne fell to his death on October 16 from the third-floor balcony of his Hotel Casa Sur room in Palermo.
Both the hotel manager and the receptionist on duty when Payne died have been charged with manslaughter.
Rogerio Norres, Payne’s close friend who traveled with him to Argentina and was present at the hotel, but left before Payne was brought to his room, was also charged with manslaughter. Nores had been charged with abandonment followed by death, but that charge was later lowered.
Nores is a dual U.S.-Argentine citizen and has been prohibited from leaving the country by a source in both the police and prosecutor’s offices.
If convicted, the hotel employee and waiter charged with “supply” of narcotics could spend between 4 and 15 years behind bars. Bruniard has ordered that they be imprisoned before their trial and must pay 5 million pesos (about $5,000) or assets of the same value will be confiscated, according to prosecutor’s offices.
The prosecutor’s offices said that Nores and the hotel manager would not be sent to jail before their trial, but they must pay 50 million pesos (about $48,000) as a payment.
Sources claim that Payne was 31 years old when he died and had multiple drugs in his system. Sources said that Payne, who was 31 when he died, had multiple substances in his system at the time of his death. These included “pink cocaine” — a recreational substance that is typically a mixture of drugs such as methamphetamine and ketamine. According to sources, an improvised aluminum tube to ingest the drugs was also discovered in his hotel room.
The preliminary autopsy report revealed that Payne also suffered from “multiple injuries” and “internal or external hemorrhage.”
Bruniard, in her Dec. 27, 2015 ruling allowing the prosecution of five people against Payne, said that the evidence presented by the prosecutors showed Payne “unable to take care of himself” during the time leading up to his demise.
Bruniard cited also “compelling”, hotel security camera footage in which she claimed Payne appeared in a “state” of vulnerability when he met the hotel manager before being taken up to his bedroom.
The judge said that the decision of the hotel manager to “[bring] Payne in this state to room 309 where he was staying”, created “a legally disapproved risk to Payne’s life”.
“Payne’s consciousness was altered and there was a balcony in the room,” Bruniard said. “The proper thing to do was to leave him in a safe place and with company until a doctor arrived.”
Bruniard stated that she did not believe the hotel manager or receptionist had acted maliciously, but “they were insensitive in allowing Payne to be taken into the room.”
Nores denied involvement in Payne’s death in a MailOnline statement made last month. “I never left Liam.”
He said, “I visited his hotel three different times on that day. I left the hotel 40 minutes before it happened. When I left, there were 15 people in the lobby of his hotel joking and chatting with him. I never imagined that this would ever happen.”
Payne was laid to rest in a private service on Nov. 20. His family and friends — including his One Direction bandmates Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and Harry Styles — were in attendance at the service, which took place in the United Kingdom, where Payne was born and his music career began.
