An Argentine judge confirmed charges against five people in relation to the death of Liam Payne, former member of the musical group One Direction, and ordered preventive detention for two of them for having supplied him with drugs.
A judicial official on Monday confirmed the judge's decision and said that one of the two people ordered to preventive detention – a form of preventive detention – was an employee of the Buenos Aires hotel where Payne stayed until he died after falling of one the balcony of his room in October.
The officer said the other person was a waiter Payne met at a restaurant. The officer, who asked not to be named as a condition of speaking about the ruling, said both face drug supply charges and need to appear before the judge.
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The judge also charged three other people with involuntary manslaughter, including a businessman who was with Payne in Argentina and two hotel managers. The official said that they were not ordered to preventive detention.
In November, prosecutors filed initial charges against three people, but did not reveal their names.
Payne fell from the balcony of his room on the third floor of his hotel in the exclusive Palermo neighborhood of the Argentine capital. His autopsy said he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.
Prosecutors also said toxicology tests on Payne showed his body had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant” in the moments before his death.
Payne's autopsy showed that his injuries were caused neither by self-harm nor by the physical intervention of others. The document also said he did not have the reflex to protect himself in the fall, suggesting he may have been unconscious.
Prosecutors in Argentina also ruled out the possibility that Payne committed suicide.
One Direction was among the most successful boy bands of recent times. He announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne, like his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, pursued a solo career.
© 2024 The Canadian Press