Three people have been charged in connection with the death of former One Direction star Liam Payne as Argentine authorities ruled out third party involvement in his fall.
The British singer died after falling from a third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires last month, at the age of 31.
The public prosecutor’s office in Argentina said three people had been charged, with one person who had been accompanying Payne accused of “abandonment of a person followed by death” – which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
An employee at the hotel where Payne was staying and a third person have also been charged with supplying drugs.
Meanwhile, prosecutors also ruled out third party involvement and “self-harm” in Payne’s death, according to a forensic psychiatric report.
“Although other medical background information from the victim’s clinical history must still be analysed, the phenomenon of the lack of defence or self-preservation reflex in the fall, together with other relevant data from his consumption, allow us to conclude that Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall,” prosecutors said in a translated statement.
The office also said it had completed a detailed analysis of more than 800 hours of video footage from security cameras and obtained several dozen testimonies from hotel staff, family members, friends and medical professionals.
Nine raids have also been ordered on properties in Buenos Aires and some of Payne’s devices are still being analysed, prosecutors said.
The musician’s body was handed over to his father, Geoff Payne, last weekend, according to the statement.
Prosecutors added that “exhaustive and meticulous measures were taken to clarify the circumstances” around the former One Direction singer’s death.
Payne died from multiple injuries as well as internal and external bleeding caused by the fall, a post-mortem examination said.
His body was found in the hotel’s internal courtyard.
After his death, police found substances in his hotel room, and damaged objects and furniture, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
Fans from across the globe held vigils and music stars paid tribute after Payne died on October 16.
In a group statement, his former bandmates: Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson, said they were “completely devastated”, and will miss the singer “terribly”.
Payne’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, said in a post to social media that her heart was “shattered in ways I can’t put into words”.
The singer had found fame alongside the four boys when Simon Cowell put them together to form One Direction on ITV talent show The X Factor in 2010.
Payne first auditioned in 2008 when he was 14, singing Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon, with judge Cowell telling him to return to the talent show two years later.
The music mogul said he was “truly devastated” in an Instagram post reacting to news of Payne’s death, adding: “Every tear I have shed is a memory of you.”
Payne previously said he struggled with alcoholism at the peak of his success with One Direction, describing hitting “rock bottom” to The Diary Of A CEO podcast host, Steven Bartlett.
