Two men accused of supplying former One Direction star Liam Payne with cocaine shortly before his tragic death will face trial it has been confirmed. Prosecutors have revealed Waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz and ex-hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra will stand trial for their alleged part in the singer’s death last October.
They have been behind bars since January after being charged in connection to Liam’s death at a Buenos Aires hotel. The pair face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of drugs offences.
Prosecutors also revealed Liam had taken cocaine in his CasaSur Palermo Hotel and and consumed it “up to a few minutes before his death”.
In a lengthy statement, Argentina’s public prosecution service said: “At the request of the head of the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14, Andres Esteban Madrea, the two defendants remanded in custody as part of the court investigation into the circumstances surrounding Liam James Payne’s death, will go on trial accused of the crime of selling drugs.
“They are Braian Nahuel Paiz, 25, who met Payne while working as a waiter in a restaurant in Puerto Madero, and Ezequiel David Pereyra, 24, who was an employee at the Hotel CasaSur Palermo where the former One Direction member died eight months ago after falling from the balcony of room 310, in a proven state of intoxication with cocaine, alcohol and psychotropic drugs.”
The statement continued: “The autopsy showed Liam’s death was caused by polytrauma and internal and external haemorrhaging and it was also determined he had ethyl alcohol in a concentration of up to 2.7 grams per litre as well as cocaine, methylecgonine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene and sertraline.
“The forensic medical specialists who performed the autopsy indicated toxicology results showed the dead man consumed cocaine via his nose as well as inhaling it by smoking the drug. Consumption took place at least 72 hours prior to his death and up to a few minutes before his death.”
(
James Breeden for the Mirror)
The alleged drug dealers are the only two suspects who will end up on the stand, with three other men initially charged over Liam’s death being told in February the case against them had been dropped.
No date has yet been set for the Paiz and Pereyra trial although it is expected to kick off shortly.
Liam’s death stunned the world on October 16, 2024. Liam fell from the third floor of a hotel building in the Argentinian capital.
Police, firefighters and ambulances were seen outside of a hotel building after Liam tragically fell. In a statement in the moments after his death, the local ambulance manager told TN: “At 17.04 through the 911 integrated public safety system, we were alerted of a person who was in an internal courtyard of the management of a south house hotel.
“At 17.11 a SAME team arrived and verified the death of this man and later we found out that he was a singer in a musical group. Unfortunately, he had injuries that were incompatible with life, as a result of his fall, so we had to confirm his death, there was no possibility of resuscitation.”
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Source: Mirror
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