It’s been one year since the sudden death of One Direction star Liam Payne, and now a hotel staff member who witnessed his final moments is speaking out about what he claims employees failed to do that might have saved the singer’s life.
Ezequiel David Pereyra, 22, who remains behind bars following Payne’s death, blames his bosses at the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for not calling an ambulance when the pop star collapsed in the lobby.
“They had him in an isolated bunker and let him do anything he wanted including drugs in the room, and in public areas of the hotel,” Pereyra claimed of the hotel’s bosses, per The U.S. Sun.
The hotel cleaner claimed the staff turned a blind eye because “he was making them too much money — triple the money.”
Pereyra believes Payne’s life “could have been saved” if he had been treated after his collapse instead of being taken to his room.
“They lifted him by his arms and legs and carried him to the room via the elevator. He should have been kept where he was and an ambulance called. But because that day they had many foreign guests checking in they decided to take him to the room in the condition he was in,” Pereyra said.
He added that a call was then made to the police “instead of an ambulance.”
“They made the call only after leaving him in the room alone. By the time they were making the call it was already too late,” he added, calling Payne’s death “truly tragic” and preventable.
Payne’s death occurred after he fell from a third-floor balcony of the hotel, where Pereyra had begun working earlier in 2024. The cleaner recalled having to bring “a lot of whiskey bottles” to the “Story of My Life” singer’s hotel room, which he alleged was “a mess” with “empty bottles and drug paraphernalia.”
Pereyra is currently being held at Marcos Paz jail in Argentina awaiting trial for allegedly selling Payne cocaine – an accusation he denies.
“Liam translated on his laptop and asked me if I could buy drugs, offering me cash to spend time with him. He gave me a $100 bill as a tip. I ended my shift and got back home and a hotel employee told me the guest from Room 310 was angry. He’d said I had stolen the money and he wanted to send a car to my house,” Pereyra explained to the outlet.
“This employee told me this person was suffering from drug withdrawal and because I accepted his money even as a tip I had an obligation to stay with him as he asked me to. I was advised to give the money back or I could get fired.
“So I went back to the hotel. The employee translated and told Liam I could get fired. Liam apologised and gave me a bracelet,” he said, per The Sun.
CCTV footage allegedly shows Pereyra shaking hands with Payne, who was reportedly heard asking for “another seven grams for today.”
“The footage shows I’m not giving him anything, but justice says otherwise,” the cleaner said. “I have been punished for having isolated contact with this person. They are hiding the truth.”
Pereyra isn’t the only person accused of being involved in Payne’s death. A Buenos Aires waiter, Braian Nahuel Paiz, 25, is also charged with supplying cocaine to the star. However, Paiz’s lawyer, Fernando Madeo Facente, claimed to an Argentinian outlet that while Paiz did take drugs with Payne, he did not supply them, People reported.
Both men face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Payne was 31 at the time of his death. He is survived by his 8-year-old son, Bear, whose mother is singer Cheryl Cole.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source globemagazine.com ’
