Speaking for the primary time is an Argentine waiter accused of getting provided Liam Payne with the medicine that led him to fall to his demise from the balcony of a resort in Buenos Aires.
Braian Nahuel Paiz, 24, is one among three suspects charged final week for his or her alleged involvement within the former One Direction member’s Oct. 16 demise. The fees included abandonment of an individual adopted by demise and provide and facilitation of narcotics, in accordance with a Nov. 7 doc. declaration by the National Criminal and Corrective Prosecutor’s Office of Argentina.
But whereas Paiz in a Friday interview with Telefè News admitted to 2 resort encounters with Payne earlier than the singer’s demise, he insisted he by no means provided the 31-year-old with medicine or accepted cash from him.
Paiz first met Payne on October 2, she instructed the outlet, when the singer was having dinner with girlfriend Kate Cassidy and two others on the Puerto Madero restaurant the place Paiz labored. Payne appeared to already be below the affect of medicine at that time and wasn’t consuming something, Paiz mentioned.
At the restaurant, Paiz continued, Payne requested him for his contact info: “I gave him my Instagram, after which he texted me, as a result of he needed to do medicine, I believe he was going to a live performance or one thing.”
That evening, Payne attended former bandmate Niall Horan’s present on the Movistar Arena, the place the 2 reportedly made amends after not being involved for a while.
“We exchanged particulars and noticed one another later that evening. Everything was regular,” Paiz mentioned, including that Payne picked him up from the downstairs of the Park Hyatt Palermo after he obtained misplaced. In the singer’s resort room, they took pictures of whiskey whereas Payne confirmed Paiz of the music he was making ready to launch.
Paiz mentioned he and Payne, who allegedly used a faux Instagram account, remained involved for a number of days earlier than assembly a second time on Oct. 13, this time on the CasaSur resort, the place Payne later died.
“We spent the evening, did medicine collectively and one thing intimate occurred,” Paiz mentioned, noting that whereas hooked on weed, Payne allegedly did cocaine. “I noticed him appearing regular, he wasn’t aggressive in any respect, he was actually candy. He requested me if I used to be okay.”
When Paiz left that evening, he mentioned, Payne once more supplied him cash and garments “so individuals knew I used to be with him,” however he refused each. “I do not know why I did not take them, I simply did not wish to take something from him.”
Paiz mentioned Payne requested him out a 3rd time — together with exhibiting up at his home — however the waiter mentioned he needed to work: “He mentioned, ‘Well, it was a pleasure,’ and that was the final time that I noticed it.”
Regarding Payne’s incident, Paiz mentioned the singer was very “paranoid” days earlier than his demise, even going to the acute of allegedly stopping individuals from getting into his room. Left alone, he might need sprinted, Paiz mentioned.
Paiz denied figuring out the opposite two suspects charged in Payne’s demise. One of them, Rogelio “Roger” Nores, final week denied abandoning Payne earlier than his demise, saying he Daily mail he “may by no means have imagined one thing like this might occur.”
The third suspect, who was appointed locally as a resort employee Ezequiel David Pereyra, has but to make a public remark.
According to the prosecutor’s assertion final week, officers charged the three suspects after finishing up 9 raids and listening to “a number of dozen” testimonies from individuals together with resort workers, Payne’s household and buddies, medical professionals and different consultants.
Police analysts additionally reviewed greater than 800 hours of surveillance footage in and across the resort, analyzed the contents of Payne’s cellphone (together with calls and messages on numerous messaging apps and social media) and assessed the visitor register and the singer’s orders. from the resort bar and restaurant to grasp his consuming and ingesting habits, the be aware reads.
The investigation into Payne’s demise is ongoing and the prosecution mentioned it was contemplating ruling out the potential for suicide as a result of “within the state that (Payne) was in, he didn’t know what he was doing nor may he perceive it.”
In October, officers decided Payne died from a number of traumas and inside and exterior bleeding brought on by the autumn. He “didn’t undertake a reflexive posture to guard himself and … might have fallen right into a state of semi- or complete unconsciousness,” officers mentioned final month.
Payne’s physique was turned over to his father, Geoff Payne, earlier this month, after an post-mortem that included a number of toxicology exams revealed that Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system on the moments earlier than his demise. Funeral preparations are underway in Payne’s residence nation of England.
Meanwhile, singer Rita Ora paid tribute to Payneher collaborator on the 2018 tune “For You (Fifty Shades Freed),” whereas internet hosting the MTV Europe Music Awards, which occurred Sunday in Manchester, England.
“I simply wish to take a second to recollect somebody who was very, very pricey to us. We misplaced him lately, and he was a giant a part of the MTV world and my world, and I believe a variety of your individuals at residence and everybody right here tonight,” Ora mentioned.
“He had the most important coronary heart and was all the time the primary particular person to supply assist in any manner he may,” she mentioned, holding again tears. “He introduced a lot pleasure to each room he walked into and left such a giant mark on this world.”
Times staffers Alexandra Del Rosario and Angie Orellana Hernandez contributed to this report.
