Valen Iricbar: Buenos Aires Herald editor on three people charged in connection with death of One Direction star Liam Payne

More details are coming to light around the death of ex-One Direction singer, Liam Payne.

The 31-year-old died last month in a fall from the balcony of a hotel in Argentina.

Three people have been charged in connection with his death – one with abandoning Payne in a vulnerable state before he died – the others with supplying him with drugs.

Buenos Aires Herald editor Valen Iricbar told Heather du Plessis-Allan one of those charged didn't travel with him to Argentina.

“It sounds, from the information that I received from the prosecutor, that it’s someone who accompanied him when he was in Buenos Aires during his stay.”

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Either duples.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Ellen, I meant to say. The rugby match kicks off
in Dublin just after nine am our time tomorrow and
you can tune into z B for Life commentary with
Elliott Smith and Gregor Paul. It's eighteen past five now.
Three people have been arrested over the death of the
One Direction star Liam Payne. He fell to his death
from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony last month. Valen Ritziba

(00:21):
is an editor of the Buenos Aires Herald. Hi Agen
Valen hi have that now I see that one of
the charged apparently accompanied Liam Payne. Now what does that mean?
Does that mean that they accompanied Liam Payne to Argentina.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
It sounds from you know, the information that I received
from the prosecutor that it's someone who accompanied him when
he was in Buenos Aires during his stay, not that.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
The Pesson came with Liam to buenas aids.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
I see, okay, And they are charged with abandonment when
he was in a vulnerable state. Anserpl Is that right?

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yes, exactly, that first person is charged with abandonment. And
there's also you know, as you mention the intro, that
there's also accusations against two other people about providing drugs,
and this first person also has that. But the big
one is the abandonment for this first person.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Do you how do you determine what? I mean, this
seems to me a really tricky charge because how do
you determine what a vulnerable state is that might lead
to somebody being in a real, really big trouble and
you can't abandon them.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
That's a fantastic question.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
I mean, reading through what's been sent on by the prosecutor,
you know they've gone through.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Over eight hundred hours of security camera footage.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Dozens of people have testified.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
There's evidence, of course that there.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Was alcohol and drug consumption in the seventy two hours
prior to his death.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
So I think I.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Am not the prosecutor, I am not legal counsel, but
I would assume that that is the It is the
conjunction of all those things that lead to that charge
being made.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
And villain the hotel employee also charged with applying drugs.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yes, the second person.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Has is a hotel employee and is being charged with
two step occasions in which they provide limpagne with cocaine
while he was at the hotel.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
I was fascinated to see just the other day a
headline flesh up and say his body was being returned.
I mean, that is a long time for authorities to
hold onto a body.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Is it normal? That is again a good question.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
I wouldn't know, because this is obviously complicated by the
fact that this is a foreigner in Argentina, So I
don't know if that made things difficult. The last time
we spoke, I remember saying a lot about the fact
that there's a sound what's being processed because this is
an ongoing investigation, So I think that's also a factor

(02:48):
there where you know, things were sort of held up
while the preliminary studies were being made. And in fact,
the ruling by the prosecutor hasn't been released yet obviously,
as it's the first thing we asked for.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
You know, we want to see the.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Original ruling, and the prosecutor said, you know, we would
rather not because there is still some elements that we
are you know, some loose ends that we are still
tying up, and so we don't want to put out
everything just yet.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
That makes sense. Hey, Wellin, thanks very much for talking
us through it. As always, as Vellin Erisibau, who's a
Herald editor

Speaker 1 (03:20):
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