The ‘on-the-run’ hotel worker accused of selling Liam Payne drugs has turned himself in four days after the singer’s other alleged dealer was arrested so he could be remanded in custody.
Ezequiel David Pereyra, 21, is said to have negotiated his surrender to the authorities through his lawyer. Police had come away empty-handed after heading to his home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires on Friday with an arrest warrant so he could be taken into pre-trial custody.
Pereyra’s unnamed lawyer informed officials yesterday his client would hand himself in at a building at Hornos 200 according to local reports. It was not immediately clear if it was number 200 of a main road called General Hornos near Buenos Aires’ famous La Boca neighbourhood or the same location in a smaller residential street a short drive from Pereyra’s home address in Lomas de Zamora on the outskirts of the Argentine capital.
A well-placed source told respected Argentinian news daily La Nacion: “After Friday’s operation a place where police believed he was working and other residential addresses were put under surveillance and because of the pressure he did the right thing with help from his lawyer.”
Pereyra, suspended from his job at CasaSur Palermo Hotel where Liam plunged to his death from his third-floor balcony on October 16 after binging on drink and drugs, is understood to have been formally read his rights before being taken into custody so he could be hauled to prison on the orders of Judge Laura Bruniard.
Mrs Bruniard had ordered his capture when he failed to honour a 24-hour deadline to hand himself in for pre-trial detention after she charged him on December 27 with supplying former One Direction singer Liam with drugs. Public prosecutors confirmed late last month the judge had accused him of “selling Liam cocaine on October 15 at 3.25am and between 3.30pm and 4pm on October 16 so that he could consume it during his hotel stay.”
They also claimed witness statements and CCTV analysis supported the allegation Pereyra had received US dollars 100 from Liam to buy narcotics for him and the singer had sent a car to his home on another occasion to pick up more drugs.
In November TMZ published footage showing Liam stepping out of a lift at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel and chatting with a man it identified as Pereyra shortly before the singer died, claiming the 31-year-old Brit had asked him for “seven grams of the same drug he had handed him earlier.”
Like Liam’s other alleged dealer Braian Nahuel Paiz, he is facing a prison sentence of between four to 15 years if convicted as charged.
Paiz was arrested at his home in Berazategui to the south-east of Quilmes near Buenos Aires on Friday so he could start his pre-trial detention.
His lawyer Fernando Madeo had previously claimed it was “impossible” the charges against his client would stick following Liam’s hotel death.
He also insisted the 24-year-old was the victim of a “witch hunt” sparked by the authorities’ desire for culprits.
Waiter Paiz, who met Liam at a restaurant in the upmarket Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Puerto Madero where he had gone to eat with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and friends, has confessed to consuming drugs with the singer at the hotel where he died but refuted claims he sold him any narcotics.
The other three men indicted, Liam’s close friend Roger Nores, chief hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and the hotel’s head of security Gilda Martin, have all been charged with manslaughter but allowed to remain free while their prosecution continues.
They are facing between one and five years in prison if convicted as charged although they have been told they could be eligible for suspended jail sentences.
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 couldn’t stand on his feet because of his prior drink and drug binge, saying it “created a legally unacceptable risk to his life” which had “foreseeable” consequences.
Argentinian prosecutors referred to Liam's friend Roger Nores in a lengthy statement they released last week as the "victim's representative" although they identified him only by his initials R.L.N.
Judge Bruniard in her indictment ruling accused the businessman, currently banned from leaving Argentina because of the charges against him, of “failing in his duty of care, assistance and help” towards the singer and “abandoning him to his fate, knowing he couldn’t fend for himself, aware he suffered multiple additions to alcohol and cocaine and fully conscious of the state of intoxication, vulnerably and defenceless he was in.”
Mr Nores told a recent TMZ documentary examining the life and death of Liam Payne that he was “in good spirits and perfectly balanced” the day he died as he refuted claims the singer was acting erratically and was intoxicated shortly before his fatal fall.
The businessman had previously protested his innocence and refuted claims he was Liam’s 'de facto' manager.
He said in a statement shortly after it emerged he was being officially investigated 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 over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left.
“I could have never imagined something like this would happen.
“I’ve given my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and I haven't spoken to any police officer or prosecutor ever since.
“I wasn't Liam's manager. He was just my very dear friend."
English (US) ·