Waiter accused of selling Liam Payne cocaine before One Direction singer’s fatal fall from hotel balcony is arrested and remanded in prison – after four others were charged over star’s death

The waiter accused of selling Liam Payne cocaine before plunging to his death in a Buenos Aires hotel has been arrested.

A judge had ordered the pre-trial detention of Braian Nahuel Paiz after accusing him of supplying drugs to the singer a week ago.

Laura Bruniard had given him 24 hours to turn himself in so he could be sent to prison, but the arrest only took place today after police went to his home in Ingeniero Budge on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

Paiz’s lawyer, Fernando Madeo, confirmed this afternoon that his client had been arrested, but gave no further details on which prison he would be taken to and when.

Earlier today it emerged that Madeo claimed it was ‘impossible’ that charges against his client would stand following Liam’s fatal plunge from the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16.

He also insisted the 24-year-old was the victim of a “witch hunt” fueled by authorities’ desire for perpetrators.

Claiming that the same issues were often raised in other capital cases attracting national and international interest, he said: “They want to look for perpetrators at any cost, violating constitutional rights and guarantees and constituting a ‘truth’ that is false turns out to be, just like the In this case, accusing innocent people of crimes they did not commit.’

Mr Madeo branded as “fake” some recent media reports claiming that his client had refused to testify before a judge who had accused him of selling drugs to Liam, stressing: “We have made a very long statement in which we issues and the false accusations against Braian and we explained everything from his point of view.”

Paiz was one of five men charged by a Buenos Aires judge last Friday following the October 16 death of former One Direction singer Liam at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.

He and 21-year-old Ezequiel David Pereyra, currently suspended from the CasaSur Palermo Hotel, have been accused of supplying Liam with drugs in exchange for money.

Judge Laura Bruniard said in her ruling that there was evidence that both men sold the singer cocaine on two separate occasions.

They were both warned that they could face between four and 15 years in prison if convicted, and after being charged they were told to report to court so they could be locked up in prison.

The other three suspects, Liam’s close friend Roger Nores, hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and the hotel’s head of security, Gilda Martin, have been charged with manslaughter but may remain free as their prosecution continues.

They face between one and five years in prison if convicted, although they have been told they could be eligible for suspended prison sentences.

Judge Laura Bruniard pointed the finger at the hotel chiefs over their decision to move Liam from the lobby to his third floor room when he was unable to stand on his feet due to his previous drink and drug abuse, saying this ‘created a legally unacceptable situation’. risk to his life’ with ‘foreseeable’ consequences.

Argentine prosecutors called Liam’s boyfriend Roger Nores the “victim’s representative” in a lengthy statement they released earlier this week, though they identified him only by his initials RLN

Judge Bruniard accused the businessman, who is currently banned from leaving Argentina due to the charges against him, in his indictment of “failing in his duty of care, aid and assistance” to the singer and “abandoning him to his fate, knowing that he that was possible’. He was unable to care for himself, aware that he had consumed alcohol and cocaine several times and fully aware of the state of intoxication, vulnerable and defenseless he was in.’

Mr. Nores told a recent TMZ documentary about the life and death of Liam Payne that he was “in good spirits and perfectly balanced” the day he died, as he refuted claims that the singer was behaving erratically and was drunk shortly before his fatal fall.

The businessman had previously protested his innocence and refuted claims that he was Liam’s ‘de facto’ manager.

He said in a statement shortly after it emerged he was under official investigation before being charged: ‘I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.

“There were more than 15 people in the hotel lobby talking and joking with him when I left. I never could have imagined something like this would happen.

“I gave my statement to the prosecutor as a witness on October 17 and I have not spoken to any police officer or prosecutor since then.

‘I wasn’t Liam’s manager. He was just my dear friend.”

Paiz has admitted taking drugs with Liam at the hotel where he died, but refuted claims he sold him narcotics.

A respected Argentinian news website claimed earlier this week that court documents showed the waiter had admitted to giving the singer drugs, but claimed he had gifted them to him.

Mr Madeo said in a recent Argentinian TV interview about the judge’s formal accusation that his client had sold Liam drugs: ‘It is absurd, it has not been proven and it will not be proven because it is not true.

‘Under Argentina’s drug laws, the free supply of drugs, where the money does not change hands, is on a much lower criminal scale.

‘And there is another possibility, namely that if there is ultimately an incidental and intimate offer between two people, without this having consequences for third parties, the penalty is significantly reduced.

‘It could still be characterized as a crime in that case, but even if it were, the reality is and current Argentine case law has shown that the private consumption of one person is not punishable.

‘The same legislation would arguably cover a situation where two people use shared drugs in a private intimate setting without affecting other people outside that environment of privacy and intimacy.

“The law in that situation significantly reduces the penalty that would be applied if it were treated as a crime.”

Mr Madeo, who confirmed that his client submitted a written statement to the judge after being summoned for questioning late last month, was previously quoted as saying: ‘What we said in the disclaimer is that Braian is a person who is a frequent drug user.

‘A while ago he used more. He had drugs in the house for his own use, he met Liam and they both used. It’s not like one brought drugs to the other, they both just shared what they had.

‘They had very extensive chat conversations. It seemed like this was the only thing that brought them together, but it wasn’t. They were two people who met each other by chance.

“In fact, Liam was the one my client was looking for.”