An Argentinian waiter who has been linked to Liam Payne’s death has broken his silence to protest his innocence and make astonishing claims about his relationship with the singer in his final days.
Braian Nahuel Paiz stands accused of being the One Direction singer’s “dealer” in an ongoing prosecution probe. The waiter has admitted to two hotel meetings with the 31-year-old before his fatal October 16 plunge and confessed to taking drugs with him. But he insisted he never supplied Liam with narcotics or accepted any money from him.
Speaking in a bombshell new interview, the 24-year-old said he spent the night with the former One Direction singer at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires.
Appearing on Argentinian TV, Braian said: "We spent the night together, we consumed drugs because the truth is that something intimate happened. I stayed there all night."
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Telefe Noticias/Youtube)Braian, who gave the interview on Saturday, claimed that arranged meeting followed an earlier get-together preceded by an initial encounter at the restaurant in the upmarket neighbourhood of Puerto Madero where he worked. He claimed he and Liam exchanged contact details as the singer dined with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and two other people.
He spoke in an on-camera interview to journalist Guillermo Panizza, who had to clarify to a programme host in the studio what Braian meant to say at times when the young man’s nerves seemed to get the better of him and his account left viewers confused and said Liam used a "secret" Instagram to communicate with Braian.
The first rendezvous with Liam is said to have occurred on October 2 at another hotel the singer was staying at ahead of his move to CasaSur Palermo following their initial restaurant encounter.
Braian said: “Liam’s first contact with me was at my place of work. We swapped details and saw each other later that night. It was all normal. He came down from his hotel room to fetch me because I had got lost.”
Naming the hotel as the “Hyatt in Palermo”, he added: “We got together there and he showed me some of the music he was going to bring out.
“I’ve heard people saying he was taking drugs but the truth is that when he got to the restaurant where I was working he was already under the effects of drugs and he didn’t actually eat anything.
“There was a moment when he approached me and asked me for my contact details. I gave him an Instagram and afterwards he sent me messages because he wanted to take drugs although he had already consumed narcotics. It was October 2. While I was in his room we had some whisky shots.”
He continued, after the TV programme showed viewers a photo of him and Liam together said to have been taken during their first hotel meeting where the singer was wearing a white top and baseball cap: “Our second hotel meeting was on the night of Sunday October 13. We spent the night together, we consumed drugs because the truth is that something intimate happened.
“I stayed there all night. I consumed marijuana and he consumed cocaine, the cocaine that’s in all the photos that came out after his death. He was separating it and cleaning it before smoking it. I didn’t say anything to him about it because he seemed normal to me. He wasn’t aggressive at all, he behaved really well with me, he was really sweet. He asked me if I was okay.
“I’ve got all the messages where we arranged that second meeting. I haven’t erased anything.”
Alleging in a rambling account of the night’s events that when he left Liam “appeared frightened” and instead of putting his room card in the key slot, stuffed a handful of papers into it to “keep the door open, he claimed: “I didn’t really understand what was going on but at the same time I realised something strange was happening.” Braian added in a third and final segment of his TV interview: “We took drugs together but I never took drugs to him or accepted any money. have messages where he’s offering me money because he was apparently used to offering money for everything but I never accepted anything.
“When I left he wanted to give me some clothes so that I had a memory of being with him but I left it behind the TV because I didn’t want to take it. It was some grey jogging bottoms and a T-shirt. I told Liam a best friend of mine wanted to meet him because he was a fan. He said ‘yes’ and after I went he appeared outside the place where I lived and managed to get halfway into the building and wanted us to go back to his hotel but I told him I couldn’t because I had to go to work.
“I was due to start at 11.30am but I had to arrive beforehand. That was the last time I saw him. He got into his taxi and left.”
Over the weekend it emerged Argentinian police probing Liam’s death are still hunting the singer’s missing Rolex watch.
Braian was not asked during his interview about the expensive timepiece.
The restaurant worker, said to have been sacked from his job after his implication in the ongoing criminal probe, is the second person linked to Liam to speak out.
Liam’s close friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores protested his innocence after being named locally last week as one of the trio under investigation. Responding to the reports which identified him as one of the suspects linked to the drug accusations and allegations he abandoned Liam before his death, businessman Mr Nores who has previously been described as the singer’s manager, said in a statement: “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." He added: “I’m really heart-broken with this tragedy, and I've been missing my friend every day.”
Prosecutors said in their lengthy statement released last Thursday three men they did not identify by name were now being formally investigated on suspicion of abandoning a person who subsequently died and supplying and facilitating drugs.
Liam’s dad Geoff flew to Argentina two days after his son died and returned to the UK with his body last Thursday to help finalise funeral arrangements following a second visit to the makeshift shrine set up by fans outside the singer’s hotel.
The funeral is expected to take place in Liam’s home town of Wolverhampton.
English (US) ·