An Argentinian waiter who is one of three suspects being investigated over Liam Payne's death has spoken about how the singer spent his final days.
Braian Nahuel Paiz, 24, broke his silence to protest his innocence as he made a number of claims about his relationship with the singer and what they did days before Liam's tragic death. He 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.
He claimed his first encounter with Liam was at a restaurant in the upmarket neighbourhood of Puerto Madero, where he worked, when he claimed he and and the singer exchanged contact details as the singer dined with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and two other people.
It is reported that their first encounter occurred on October 2, at a different hotel that Liam had been staying at prior to his move to CasaSur Palermo. Braian then claimed that he spent the night with the One Direction star at CasaSur Palermo during a second rendezvous on October 13.
Speaking on Argentinian TV to journalist Guillermo Panizza on Saturday, he said: “I never supplied Liam with drugs. 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.”
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Collect)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.
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AFP via Getty Images)“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.”
Braian went on to say that Liam offered him money but he "never accepted anything", but that the One Direction star went on to offer him a parting gift of clothes so he had a memory of being with him.
He said: “We took drugs together but I never took drugs to him or accepted any money. I 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.”
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