11 November 2024, 10:11 | Updated: 11 November 2024, 10:14
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One of the three suspects being investigated over Liam Payne’s death has broken his silence to say he did nothing wrong.
Argentinian waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz said he met the star, 31, in his hotel twice before his fatal fall on October 16.
Paiz appeared on TV on Saturday where he said: “I never supplied Liam with drugs. Liam’s first contact with me was at my place of work.
“We swapped details and saw each other later that night. It was all normal. He came down from his hotel room to fetch me because I had got lost.”
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“We got together there and he showed me some of the music he was going to bring out. I’ve heard people saying he was taking drugs, but the truth is that when he got to the restaurant where I was working he was already under the effects of drugs and he didn’t actually eat anything.”
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Alamy
He said the second time they met: “We took drugs together, but I never took drugs to him or accepted any money.”
Paiz said he smoked marijuana during a second meeting, reportedly on October 13- three days before Liam’s death.
“I never took drugs to him or accepted any money,” he said.
“I have messages where he’s offering me money because he was apparently used to offering money for everything but I never accepted anything.
“When I left he wanted to give me some clothes so that I had a memory of being with him but I left it behind the TV because I didn’t want to take it. It was some grey jogging bottoms and a T-shirt.
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Alamy
“I told Liam a best friend of mine wanted to meet him because he was a fan. He said ”yes” and after I went he appeared outside the place where I lived and managed to get halfway into the building and wanted us to go back to his hotel but I told him I couldn’t because I had to go to work.
“I was due to start at 11.30am but I had to arrive beforehand. That was the last time I saw him. He got into his taxi and left.”
Liam’s close friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores has also maintained his innocence after being named locally last week as one of three people under investigation.
The businessman said: “I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.
“There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left. I could have never imagined something like this would happen.
“I’ve given my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and I haven’t spoken to any police officer or prosecutor ever since.
“I wasn’t Liam’s manager. He was just my very dear friend.”
The third suspect, who is yet to speak in public, has been named locally as a hotel worker called Ezequiel David Pereyra, 21.
Last night singer Rita Ora remembered Liam with a tearful tribute at the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs).
Liam died at the age of 31 after falling from a third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last month.
Ora, 33, host of the ceremony in Manchester, was friends with Payne and had collaborated with the singer on the song For You, which featured on the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack.
She said: “I just want to take a moment to remember someone very, very dear to us.
“We lost him recently and he was a big part of the MTV world and my world.
“Liam Payne was one of the kindest people that I knew.”
Ora added: “He had the biggest heart and was always the first person to offer help in any way that he could.
“He brought so much joy to every room he walked into and he left such a mark on the world.”
An image of the singer was then shown on screens in the arena.