An Argentinian court has overturned criminal negligence charges against three of the five defendants in the death of former One Direction singer, Liam Payne. According to the ruling obtained by the Associated Press on Thursday, Payne died last October after falling from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires.
Read Also...:
'Romance scam on steroids': US woman accused of targeting older men in a deadly scheme
02-23, 2025
Elon Musk says all federal workers must explain what they did last week or risk being fired
02-23, 2025
Police officer killed, five other people wounded after gunman holds Pennsylvania hospital staff hostage
02-23, 2025
Perth grandma extradited from UK after allegedly stealing $1.6 million
02-23, 2025At the same time, the Argentinian Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the other two defendants in the case should remain in custody. They face charges of providing drugs to the famous British boy band star.
The three key defendants who had their charges dropped are: Argentinian businessman Rogerio Norese, who holds U.S. citizenship and accompanied Payne to Buenos Aires; Gilda Martin, the manager of the Casa Sur Palermo hotel where Payne died on October 16; and Esteban Grassi, the hotel's main receptionist.
In Argentina, negligent homicide carries a maximum sentence of one to five years in prison. A toxicology report conducted after the autopsy revealed that 31-year-old Payne had alcohol, cocaine, and prescription antidepressants in his system when he fell from the balcony.
Prosecutors argued that Norese failed to fulfill his duty of care by leaving Payne alone while he was intoxicated. The court supported the defense lawyers' argument that Norese had no legal, moral, or social obligation to care for Payne, and that he was not at the hotel when the incident occurred.
Investigators determined that on October 16, hotel employees Martin and Grassi saw Payne severely intoxicated in the lobby of the Casa Sur hotel and decided to take him back to his room with the help of others. Prosecutors stated that they should have kept Payne away from the hotel room, given the obvious danger of the balcony, until Payne could receive proper medical care. The court ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that taking Payne back to his hotel room "constituted an illegal, unruly, clumsy, reckless, imprudent, or negligent act."
The court also ordered that the other two defendants in the case—Ezequiel David Pereira, a former employee of the Casa Sur hotel, and Brian Pais, a waiter who served Payne at an upscale restaurant in Buenos Aires—remain in custody, as they are accused of providing him with drugs in the days or even hours before his death. The court stated that preventative detention was justified because they face charges carrying a maximum sentence of four to fifteen years in prison.
Payne's sudden death sparked grief among One Direction fans worldwide, as the band is one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.
