Five charged in connection with singer’s death

Five people have been charged in connection with the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne in Argentina, local media report.

The 31-year-old star died on October 16 after falling from the third-floor balcony of a Buenos Aires hotel.

The hotel manager, Gilda Martín, the hotel employee, Esteban Grassi, as well as Roger Nores, who is allegedly a friend of Payne, have been charged with homicide, according to Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office.

Braian Paiz and Ezequiel Pereyra, who allegedly worked at the hotel, have been charged with supplying drugs.

A judge ordered the preventive detention of two of the five defendants, according to the Argentine news website Infobae.

The two, whose names have not been revealed, have been summoned to appear in court within 24 business hours, Infobae added.

The BBC has contacted the prosecution for comment.

Argentine authorities have been investigating Payne’s final days at the CasaSur hotel.

It was previously announced in November that three people had been charged with his death but their names were not revealed at the time.

Speaking to US celebrity news outlet TMZ after Payne’s death, Roger Nores said he was a “very good friend” of the singer and that they had spent time together on the day of the star’s death.

He said Payne “seemed playful and happy” when he left him about an hour before the musician fell from the balcony.

After Payne’s death, police found substances in his hotel room and objects and furniture that had been damaged.

Hotel staff had made two calls to emergency services saying they had a guest who had consumed “too many drugs and alcohol” and was “trashing up the entire room”, it was previously reported.

In November, the prosecutor’s office said toxicology tests revealed traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in Payne’s body.

The autopsy determined that the cause of death was “multiple trauma” and “internal and external hemorrhage” as a result of the fall from the hotel balcony.

According to the prosecution, medical reports also suggested that Payne may have fallen into a state of partial or complete unconsciousness.

The prosecutor’s office said this ruled out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act on Payne’s part, and they had concluded that the singer did not know what he was doing or understand his actions.

Payne became one of the most recognizable names in pop after appearing on The X Factor and rose to fame with boy band One Direction in the 2010s before the band went on indefinite hiatus in January 2016.

that of the singer the funeral was held in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, last month.

His former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were among the mourners, along with Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy and his ex-partner Cheryl, with whom he shares a son.