Liam Payne‘s heartbroken girlfriend Kate Cassidy is spending New Year’s Eve caring for the beloved dog they adopted just weeks before his death.
The influencer, 25, hasn’t posted on social media since his shock death after he fell from a third floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16.
Sources have now revealed that Kate will be marking the end of a devastating year with close friends in New York, and her rescue dog Nala, who she and Liam adopted over the summer.
A source told The Sun: ‘New Year’s Eve won’t be a celebratory occasion but she’s got her nearest and dearest around her.
‘Nala is also a huge source of comfort. In many ways, she’s all Kate has left of Liam.’
MailOnline has contacted a representative for Kate Cassidy for comment.
Liam Payne’s heartbroken girlfriend Kate Cassidy is spending New Year’s Eve caring for the beloved dog they adopted just weeks before his death
Sources have revealed that Kate will be marking the end of a devastating year with friends in New York, and her rescue dog Nala (pictured), who she and Liam adopted over the summer
Kate and Liam adopted Nala from Urgent Dogs of Miami in the summer, and it was a pet they hoped might one day form part of a ‘nice and loving family’.
The troubled One Direction singer had previously described the encounter which led to the adoption as a ‘meet and greet with a couple doggos’.
Speaking of his furry friend, he added: ‘I really love her. She is so cute. She is a tiny new member of the family for a while.
‘We’re going to foster her for a while and get her really nice for a loving family I think. But we might be the nice family.’
Kate had added: ‘We did a meet and greet with three different dogs and this one fit us best. She’s so sweet. She’s only four months old. She was abandoned by her previous owners and dumped at the shelter. We wanted to give her a second chance and a better life.’
On Sunday, it was revealed that five suspects are now facing police charges for Liam’s death.
Among the suspects is a hotel receptionist, who is accused of manslaughter for having the One Direction star ‘dragged’ to his room when he couldn’t stand.
The singer’s close friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores is also accused of manslaughter for having allegedly ‘abandoned him to his luck knowing that he was incapable of fending for himself and knowing that he [Liam] suffered from multiple addictions’, court documents show.
Kate and Liam adopted Nala from Urgent Dogs of Miami in the summer, and it was a pet they hoped might one day form part of a ‘nice and loving family’
Judge Laura Bruniard also said Nores ‘failed to fulfil his duties of care, assistance and help’ towards the singer.
Nores ‘should have consulted a doctor’ and ‘should have done this without relying on what the hotel employees could do’, the judge said.
She added that she did not believe that Liam’s friend and the two hotel staff also accused of manslaughter ‘had planned or wanted the death of Payne’ but said that their alleged actions and decisions added to the ‘risk’ to his life.
On Monday, it was revealed that Judge Bruniard has moved ahead with prosecutions of all the suspects in the case following evidence from prosecutors.
WhatsApp messages between Liam and an Argentine waiter he met on a night out with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy are at the centre of the case, it has emerged.
They allegedly reveal how the star was sold cocaine twice in the days before he plunged to his death from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony.
Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office said on Monday, in a statement which referred to the defendants only by their initials.
They are reported to be hotel manager Gilda Martin, receptionist Esteban Grassi and Payne’s friend Roger Nores. Two others, hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra and waiter Braian Paiz, have been charged with supplying cocaine.
Prosecutors launched an investigation shortly after Payne’s death on October 16.
Nores has been ‘held criminally responsible’ for Liam’s death by prosecutors, who alleged he failed in his duty of care responsibilities to Payne.
Liam died on October 16 after falling from a third floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires, and on Sunday five people faced charges for his death
The prosecutors claim he ‘abandoned’ Payne, ‘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’.
The head of the National Criminal and Correctional Court No 34, judge Laura Bruniard, said Nores ‘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’.
It is claimed there is footage showing US citizen Nores was in the hotel around 50 minutes before Payne’s death, and the judge said he ‘should have consulted a doctor’ and ‘should have done this without relying on what the hotel employees could do’.
Prosecutors also claim Martin and Grassi saw Payne under the influence in the lobby, but did not provide medical help.
Judge Bruniard said that on the day of Payne’s death he ‘was unable to care for himself’ and footage shows he was unconscious and being dragged ‘by three people’.
Kate was with Liam just two days before he died, and while she is not under investigation for any wrongdoing, instead she will provide a witness statement to provide police with an insight into Liam’s final days.
In words reported by the Daily Mirror, a source claimed that Ms Cassidy is speaking with the force because ‘she wants the right people to be brought to justice’.
The source said: ‘She’s going to help in any way she can, she wants the right people to be brought to justice, and if that takes her answering their questions, she’s going to do it.
‘Obviously, there’s no reason for her not to cooperate, she tried for a long time to help him get clean, and is still haunted by what happened. Anyone who provided drugs to Liam should be prosecuted, she says.’