The One Direction singer had alcohol and cocaine in his system at the time of his death, an autopsy reveals.
An Argentinian judge has allowed charges against former One Direction singer Liam Payne’s manager and employees of the hotel he was staying at when he died to go ahead.
The judge argued that the hotel manager and staff had failed Payne in the moments before his death, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office released Monday.
Payne, who was British, fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires in October. He was 31 years old.
Payne’s manager, as well as his hotel manager and front desk manager, have been charged with manslaughter in connection with the former pop superstar’s death. They face up to 5 years in prison if convicted.
A hotel employee and a local waiter are accused of supplying Payne with cocaine during his stay and face up to 15 years in prison. The judge in her ruling on Friday ordered their detention pending trial.
“To take Payne to his room in the condition he was in would endanger his life,” the judge said in her ruling, which was released with the prosecutor’s statement. “It was clear he was vulnerable.”
Payne’s autopsy showed he had “large amounts” of cocaine and alcohol in his system at the time of his death, according to the affidavit.
Payne is alleged to have purchased cocaine at least four times from the hotel employee and waiter over a three-day period.
Footage from the lobby of the Casa Sur hotel in the upscale Palermo neighborhood showed that minutes before Payne’s death on October 16, he was unconscious and carried to his room by three people.
According to the affidavit, the hotel receptionist led the group and was then seen with the hotel manager in the hallway outside Payne’s room.
Payne’s consciousness was altered and there was a balcony in the room. “The right thing to do was to leave him in a safe place and in society until a doctor arrived,” the judge said.
She added that evidence showed Payne tried to get out of his room through the balcony, but because of the condition he was in, he fell.
Payne’s manager, identified only by his initials “RLN”, left the hotel less than an hour before the crash. The judge argued that he should not have trusted hotel workers with Payne’s well-being.
The judge barred the manager, who is a US citizen, from leaving Argentina.
Payne was grouped with four fellow contestants during his appearance on the UK singing competition The X Factor in 2010, forming One Direction. The group went on to achieve worldwide success before breaking up in 2016.
Payne went on to have a solo career and he released his latest single in March.
