Liam Payne fell to his death trying to escape from the Buenos Aires hotel where he had been staying for several days while in a drugged state, the judge overseeing the investigation into his death has said.
The One Direction star died on October 16 after falling from the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo hotel in the Argentinian capital and striking his head on a concrete umbrella base.
Laura Bruniard, the head of Criminal and Correctional Court Number 34, has charged three people including Payne’s friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores with negligent homicide, an equivalent to manslaughter, and two others with drug dealing.
Judge Bruniard said the singer had been in a ‘state of vulnerability’ and should not have been left alone in a ‘state of intoxication due to polydrug use’, according to a statement issued by Argentina’s Public Prosecutor’s Office.
She noted that Payne appeared to have ‘a history of addiction’ based upon testimonies and evidence gathered over the last two months, and that the singer had been demanding cocaine and alcohol from hotel staff.
After fighting with two women whom he had allegedly hired as escorts, Payne had collapsed in the hotel’s lobby and was carried upstairs by hotel staff.
Minutes later, the judge said, the singer had tried to leave the hotel room via the balcony – a decision that would cost him his life.
Unlike the UK’s adversarial system that sees prosecutors and defence lawyers present cases to a judge, Argentina operates an ‘inquisitorial’ legal system which sees courts and judges actively involved in investigating the facts of a case.
As of yet, nobody has been convicted of any charges in relation to Payne’s death.
Liam Payne pictured in 2022. The One Direction singer died on October 16 after falling from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires
Experts believe Payne fell from the railing (circled) while trying to escape the CasaSur Palermo but lost consciousness
Police found white powder in his hotel room during their investigation. Liam had cocaine, alcohol and the antidepressant sertraline in his system when he died
Forensic experts believe Liam fell unconscious as he clambered over the railing before falling to his death.
Judge Bruniard said: ‘Payne’s consciousness was altered and there was a balcony in the room. The proper thing to do was to leave him in a safe place and with company until a doctor arrived.
‘I maintain that the person named tried to leave from the balcony of the place where he was left because the forensic experts noted that he did not lose his balance. This is how the fall occurred.
‘The named man tried to leave via the balcony, in the state detailed. He fell into the void and died.
‘The autopsy performed on his body showed that the death was caused by multiple trauma and internal and external bleeding. The presence of cocaine and alcohol in large quantities was confirmed.’
Toxicology analysis revealed Payne had cocaine in his urine, blood, stomach and nasal passages. The antidepressant sertraline, sold in the US as Zoloft, was also present in his system.
Shocking images revealed to the world by the Mail showed the star being carried unconscious up to his hotel room by three people after collapsing in the lobby.
Two of those people are believed to be reception manager Esteban Grassi and head of security Gilda Martín – who, alongside Nores, have been charged with negligent homicide.
Grassi, Martín and Nores have had assets seized with a 50million peso (£38,700) embargo, and each faces up to five years in prison if found guilty – but the sentence could be suspended.
The lesser charge of manslaughter has been applied on the basis that none of the accused ‘planned and wanted’ Payne’s death, the judge said.
However, they are accused of creating a ‘legally disapproved risk’ by leaving him alone in his room.
A smashed TV and a glass of champagne can be seen inside Liam Payne’s hotel room in this image issued by Buenos Aires Police
Roger Nores, an Argentinian businessman and friend of Liam’s, has been charged with negligent homicide. He had previously denied being investigated over Liam Payne’s death
Waiter Braian Paiz has denied giving Liam drugs in exchange for cash, claiming they only spent time together
Emergency services outside the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16 after the death of Liam Payne
Liam Payne in his last Snapchat story. Investigators believe he fell unconscious as he tried to climb over a balcony
Nores, who has US citizenship, has been banned from leaving Argentina, the prosecutor’s office said.
Prosecutor Andres Madrea is reportedly considering appealing Nores’ charge to be upgraded to the more serious charge of abandonment before death, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
Nores has persistently denied abandoning Liam before his death. He left the hotel 50 minutes before Liam died and was deemed persona non grata at the singer’s funeral last month.
The 35-year-old businessman told a TMZ documentary examining Liam’s death that the singer had been ‘in good spirits and perfectly balanced’ the day he died.
He also refuted claims the singer was intoxicated and acting erratically shortly before his October 16 fatal fall from his third-floor hotel balcony – despite toxicology reports confirming Liam had alcohol and cocaine in his system.
Nores said in a statement last month: ‘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 gave 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.’
Judge Bruniard said yesterday Nores had assumed a ‘pre-existing legal duty’ to act as Liam’s ‘guarantor’, and ought to have consulted a doctor given Liam’s state in the hours before he died.
‘He is responsible for the crime of negligent homicide as the perpetrator given that he had assumed a position of guarantor in front of the family of the deceased,’ the judge said.
Fans staged a vigil outside in the hours after his death as it became clear that Liam was the person who had fallen to his death
Liam Payne found fame as a member of One Direction (pictured left alongside Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson in 2013)
Liam later dated one-time X-Factor judge Cheryl Tweedy, and went on to have son Bear, seven, with her
Liam pictured with girlfriend Kate Cassidy in March 2023. She had stayed with Liam elsewhere in Argentina but flew home before he checked into the CasaSur
An emotional Harry Style departs the funeral of fellow One Direction bandmate, Liam Payne
One Direction singer Niall Horan (left) is pictured at Payne’s funeral alongside former One D star, Zayn Malik (right)
Based on statements and analysis of text messages, she added, ‘it is evident that this defendant was Liam James Payne’s contact for the hotel.
‘I believe that at that point, given the results of the autopsy, Payne’s state of vulnerability was evident. (Nores) could not trust that the rest of the hotel staff would act appropriately.
‘(Nores was) abandoning him to his fate, knowing that he was incapable of caring for himself, knowing that the accused suffered from multiple previous addictions – to alcohol and cocaine – and having full knowledge of the state of intoxication, vulnerability and helplessness in which he found himself.’
Reception boss Grassi said in a leaked prosecutor’s file he heard noises inside Payne’s room after taking him back upstairs – prompting him to call the emergency services. But by the time he had made the call, Payne had fallen to his death.
He said: ‘The noises didn’t stop so I decided to go down to reception – I think we all did – and if I remember correctly I called 911 – or [ambulance service] SAME, I don’t remember well, I’m very stressed out by the situation – and I explained the situation to them, that I was afraid of what could happen to this person because of the state he was in.
‘At that moment I saw a police car approach the hotel and one of the sales guys appeared and told me… that he had fallen in the patio of the Sacro restaurant and that he had heard the sound of the fall.’
Waiter Braian Paiz and hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra have been charged with supplying drugs for payment.
Each had five million pesos (£3,800) of assets seized, and both were placed into pre-trial preventive detention. Supplying drugs in Argentina carries a sentence of four to 15 years in prison, for which a suspended sentence is not available.
Funeral directors place a floral tribute which says ‘Daddy’ outside the funeral service of One Direction singer Liam Payne
Liam Payne and Roger Nores are pictured here in West Hollywood in June this year
Geoff Payne, Liam Payne’s father, arrives at the CasaSur Hotel on October 18, two days after the singer died
Mr Payne is seen inspecting tributes to Liam outside the hotel. The family is thought to have barred Roger Nores from attending the singer’s funeral
Paiz is accused of delivering cocaine to Payne twice on October 14 at around 3.25am and sometime between 10.03am and 10.44am, one of which happened at his own home. He allegedly told prosecutors this was not in exchange for money.
His lawyer Fernando Madeo called the drug dealing charge ‘illegitimate, unfounded and arbitrary’, insisting his client is a One Direction superfan who took drugs with Liam but never sold him any.
‘My client had drugs for personal use, they got together once and got high together. When he went to the hotel where Liam was, he already had drugs’, Mr Madeo said, adding: ‘He wasn’t the dealer’.
Pereyra is alleged to have delivered cocaine to Payne at 3.25am on October 15 and between 3.30pm and 4pm on October 16, the day he died.
He has yet to make any comment personally or through a defence lawyer.
Prosecutors concluded that Payne was ‘not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall’.
Police found substances in his hotel room, along with destroyed objects and furniture, prosecutors said.
Liam’s family is reported to have expressed a degree of relief after the charges were announced yesterday.
A friend of the family told The Sun: ‘It’s been a very difficult Christmas for them but they now just want justice for their son.
‘Finally, after a horrific couple of months, there is a feeling like this could be possible.’
Prosecutors have pored over 800 hours of video footage and have taken ‘several dozen’ testimonies from witnesses, as well as data from Liam’s phone and those belonging to others.
Liam’s funeral, held on November 20, was attended by Cheryl Tweedy, the mother of his son Bear, and fellow One Direction stars Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, along with his family and friends.