Hotel workers accused of selling Liam Payne cocaine before star's death to face trial
Two men accused of selling Liam Payne cocaine hours before he plunged to his death from the third floor of a hotel are to face trial, Argentinian prosecutors have said.
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Waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz and former hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra are to stand trial over the former One Direction star's death in Buenos Aires last October.
The two have been in prison since the start of January, and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of drug offences. The trial does not yet have a set date.
The pair have revealed the singer had snorted and smoked the class A-drug in his room at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel 'up to a few minutes before his death'.
Read more: Five people charged over Liam Payne's hotel plunge death including staff members
In a statement, Argentina's public prosecution service said Mr Payne met Paiz, 25, working as a waiter in a restaurant in Puerto Madero, and he met hotel employee Pereyra, 24, at the hotel.
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.'
The alleged drug dealers are the only two suspects who will end up on the stand.
Three other men initially charged over his death were told in February the case against them had been dropped.
The late singer's close friend Rogelio Nores, hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and hotel head of security Gilda Martin were accused of Payne's manslaughter by a lower court judge, before she reversed her decision on appeal.
Paiz has previously protested his innocence after being accused of selling Payne cocaine on two separate occasions in the run-up to his death.
He reportedly repeated an earlier claim last night from prison that he had shared drugs with the artist but hadn't committed the serious offence of selling him narcotics.
The 25-year-old had chatted with Payne in a restaurant and swapped contact details with him.
Paiz said in an interview with Argentinian media outlet Infobae from his jail cell at a Buenos Aires police station: "I don't know what I'm doing here, I'm a good person.
"I shared drugs with Liam but I didn't sell them."
Describing himself as a drug user who started smoking marihuana as a youngster, he added: "All I want to do is start studying again and leave jail to work, like I was doing before.
"I regret now giving Liam my Instagram because it all spiralled from there.
"If I hadn't I'd probably be working today, I'd be studying, I'd be doing videos because before meeting Liam I'd participated in the filming of a videoclip for YouTube for a singer and other videos for TV.
"I miss the freedom I had, I miss work, I miss my family, my mum and my sisters."