Prosecutors have appealed a court decision to drop manslaughter charges against three men over former One Direction singer Liam Payne’s death.
The move was confirmed in a long statement issued late yesterday by Argentina’s Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Liam’s close friend Rogelio Nores and two workers at the Buenos Aires hotel where the singer died in a drink and drug-fuelled balcony plunge, chief receptionist Esteban Grassi and head of security Gilda Martin, were told on February 19 they were in the clear.
They learnt the news after an appeal by their lawyers against the charges laid against them by a lower court late last December.
Overnight public prosecutors said they were still fighting to get the men to trial as they confirmed new counter-appeals had been lodged.
They also revealed that as well as appealing the decision to clear businessman Mr Nores of manslaughter, they wanted appeal judges to look at their claims he played an active role in supplying Liam, 31 when he died on October 16, with drugs.
Two other men are still in prison on drug charges after being accused of selling him cocaine – former waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz and suspended hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra.
Their attempts to secure bail since their incarceration earlier this year have failed and they have been warned they could face between four and 15 years in prison on conviction.
Liam Payne (pictured) was just 31 when he died on October 16
Liam’s close friend Rogelio Nores (pictured, left) and two workers at the Buenos Aires hotel where the singer died in a drink and drug-fuelled balcony plunge, chief receptionist Esteban Grassi and head of security Gilda Martin, were told on February 19 they were in the clear
Prosecutors accused Nores in their statement, although they only referred to him by his initials, as ‘cooperating in creating the state that led to the fatal outcome’
Public prosecutors said they had lodged two separate appeals against the dropping of manslaughter charges to different sets of judges. It was not immediately clear last night if the appeals are a last throw of the dice and they will have exhausted all avenues if they are rejected.
They accused Nores in their statement, although they only referred to him by his initials, as ‘cooperating in creating the state that led to the fatal outcome.’
They went on to add, justifying their decision to try to pin a drugs charge on the businessman: ‘According to a reconstruction R.L.N was in the British musician’s room when a hotel employee who was cleaning the room said she had seen the victim sniffing “a powder”.’
US monthly magazine Rolling Stone is reporting the appeal to overturn the acquittal of Nores and the two hotel workers has already been denied – but Argentinian public prosecutors made no mention of this whatsoever in their statement released in the last few hours.
Entrepreneur Mr Nores said in interviews given after he learned the manslaughter charge against him had been dropped last month that he had consistently refused his pal’s requests for drugs and insisted no-one could have envisaged the singer would die the way he did.
In another subsequent interview with Argentinian media he refuted claims his relationship with Liam’s family had taken a nosedive despite the hotel tragedy and a separate £8.1 million US defamation lawsuit he has launched against the musician’s grieving dad Geoff over claims he made ‘false’ statements to Buenos Aires-based prosecutors.
He said he had received ‘a lot more support from Liam’s family’ than people think.
Mr Nores, accused by prosecutors of being Liam’s representative and failing in his duty of care towards him before the appeal court judges accepted his defence lawyer’s fierce rebuttal of the claims, went on to insist: ‘I never tried drugs in my life and I don’t drink alcohol. I didn’t have experience of people suffering addictions, I learnt with Liam.
The singer died suddenly aged 31 after falling from the third floor (circled) of the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires
Liam pictured with girlfriend Kate Cassidy in March 2023. She had stayed with Liam elsewhere in Argentina but flew home before he checked into the CasaSur
‘He had 10 hard years and we all tried to help him. You do what you can as a friend and we had 40 million chats with his dad and when I was living with him for two and a half months in the same house.
‘We all tried to help him, but at the end of the day the decision was Liam’s.’
Mr Nores’ Argentinian lawyer Rafael Cuneo Libarona, who is also involved in the separate US defamation case, had centred his fight to get his client off his manslaughter rap on a rebuttal of prosecution claims he was Liam’s representative and had failed in his duty of care towards him.
Public prosecutors confirmed earlier this month before deciding to fight the decision that the appeal court judges had based their decision to clear Liam’s friend of any criminal wrongdoing on the fact he had not assumed ‘special obligations’ that could link his conduct to the singer’s death.
Esteban Grassi was one of the three men identified alongside Gilda Martin in the last harrowing photo of the former One Direction singer to emerge showing him being carried back up to his room from his hotel lobby shortly before his balcony plunge.
Like Mr Nores they had been warned they would face between one and five years if they were ever convicted of Liam’s manslaughter although they had been told they could be eligible for suspended jail sentences.
