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Five people have been charged with crimes in connection with the October 16th death of One Direction star Liam Payne. Three of them, including one of the singer’s close friends, are facing manslaughter charges.
Roger Nores, a friend of Liam Payne, along with Esteban Grassi, a receptionist at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel, and Gilda Martin, the hotel’s head of security, have been charged with manslaughter by the Argentinian Public Prosecutor’s Office and are forbidden from leaving the country. Two others, Braian Paiz, a waiter at a local restaurant, and another CasaSur Palermo Hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra, are now facing drug-related charges.
According to the BBC, court documents allege Pereyra sold Liam Payne cocaine on October 15th and 16th, and Paiz allegedly sold cocaine to Payne twice on October 14th.
Roger Nores was charged with manslaughter for “failing to fulfil his duties of care, assistance and help” towards Payne when he “abandoned him to his luck knowing that he was incapable of fending for himself and knowing that he [Payne] suffered from multiple addictions.” Nores was reportedly with Liam Payne daily during his two-week trip to Buenos Aires.
Martin was charged with manslaughter for allegedly failing to stop the 31-year-old Payne from being taken to his hotel room prior to his death, while knowing that the balcony posed a “serious threat” to his safety considering his mental state at the time.
Grassi faces manslaughter charges because she allegedly asked people to “drag” Liam Payne to his room, despite the fact that the singer was “unable to stand” because of the “consumption of various substances.”
All three, if convicted of manslaughter, would be sentenced to anywhere from one to five years in prison. Pereyra and Paiz, if convicted on the drug charges, face between four and 15 years in prison.
Nores has previously gone on record claiming that he “never abandoned Liam.” He added that he “went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before” the singer’s shocking fall from a third-floor balcony resulting in his death.