The National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office of Argentina has reported this Thursday of the indictment of three people related to the death of the British singer Liam Payne, former member of the boyband One Direction, in Buenos Aires, who are being investigated for the crimes of abandonment of person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics.
In a statement, the Public Ministry has explained that the prosecutor formally charged three people, requesting their investigative statement and arrest.
The first of the accused is the one who accompanied the artist on a daily basis during his stay in Buenos Aires and is charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death – contemplated in article 106 of the Penal Code and which provides for a penalty of 5 to 15 years in prison–, as author, in ideal competition with supply and facilitation of narcotics.
The second defendant is a hotel employee who must answer for two proven supplies of cocaine to Liam Payne during the period in which he was at the hotel. Finally, the third person investigated is also a supplier of narcotics, so both were charged with the crime of supplying narcotics.
The opinion details the investigation carried out by the prosecution to reconstruct the days in which Payne was staying at the hotel and, in addition, nine searches were requested at homes in Buenos Aires and the province, as well as the establishment of summary secrecy until to be executed, to protect their results and the investigation.
FIRST CONCLUSIONS
According to the investigation by the Argentine Prosecutor’s Office, at least four supplies of narcotics from third parties and other facilitations of addictive consumption by his direct environment were accredited “in a visible, concrete and forceful manner”, which were addressed to the former member of One Direction during your accommodation in the aforementioned hotel, between October 13 and 16.
The results of toxicological studies revealed that, in the moments before his death and in the period of at least his last 72 hours, “Payne only had traces in his body of polyconsumption of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant.” This conclusion was reached after complete toxicological analyzes on urine, blood and vitreous humor, carried out in a very short time, says the Prosecutor’s Office.
Likewise, three other reports requested by the Public Ministry confirmed, among other points, that all of Payne’s injuries “were compatible with those caused by a fall from a height” and that “self-harm of any type and/or also intervention were ruled out.” of third parties”. They also highlighted that the victim did not adopt a reflex posture to protect himself in the fall, so, for the moment, “it can be inferred that he could have fallen into a state of semi or total unconsciousness.”
OVER 800 HOURS OF VIDEO
The Public Ministry has indicated that since the beginning of the investigation, several dozen testimonies, including hotel staff, family members and friends, medical professionals, biochemists and psychiatrists, participated in the investigations to clarify the circumstances surrounding his death. The artist, 31, died on October 16 when he fell from a balcony in a hotel in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo.
Thus, it points out that the researchers carried out an analysis of more than 800 hours of videos from various hotel security cameras and others on public roads, with personnel from the prosecutor’s office and specialized analysts from the Superintendence of Special Investigations and the Technological Support Division. of the City Police, made available from the first moment by the Deputy Headquarters of the City Police, headed by Jorge Guillermo Azzolina.
Likewise, it was possible to carry out the forensic extraction of the contents of the deceased musician’s phone. After that, their calls, messages, chats on messaging applications and social networks were analyzed. The hotel and restaurant guest records were also analyzed to find out who visited the musician and their drinking and food consumption habits.