This is not a Kenyan plane stowaway who fell from the London sky
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on December 10, 2019 at 11:12
- 4 min read
- By AFP Kenya, Mary KULUNDU, Charlotte MASON
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The TV network published an investigation on November 12, claiming it had identified a man whose body fell from the landing gear compartment of a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to London's Heathrow airport on June 30, 2019.
As AFP reported at the time, neighbours said they heard a loud thud when the man's body -- described as an "ice block" -- landed next to a man sunbathing in his garden in Clapham, southwest London.
Sky News said the man was Paul Manyasi, a cleaner at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi who had smuggled himself on board.
While the network has withdrawn the report from its website, a copy of the video version can still be found on YouTube -- we've archived it here.
The investigation was based on testimony from a woman named Irene, who claimed she worked with and was dating the man identified as Paul Manyasi. She told Sky journalist John Sparks that her boyfriend had gone missing “at the end of June”.
Irene, whose identity was concealed by Sky News, also mentioned that a supervisor at work told employees that there was "somebody missing".
"We were at work in the morning, then he suddenly disappeared. Nobody knows where he went. I called his phone. It was off. The following day, the supervisor called us and told us, there's somebody missing but we are not sure of the person, so we keep it a secret until we know the person," Irene was quoted by Sky News as saying.
Sky News has taken down the investigation from its website, but like the video the written report had featured photographs showing the man identified by Irene as Paul Manyasi.
The report also featured an interview with the parents of 'Paul', who said they were worried about their son and that "his phone isn't working". They appeared to confirm that a bag and shoes in photographs provided by London's Met Police belonged to their son.
However, doubts about Sky News' claims surfaced when online users began pointing out that the photographs which allegedly showed 'Paul Manyasi' in Sky's report (below left) were found on the Facebook profile of a man called Cedrick Junior (below right), who is listed as living in Nairobi.
Cedrick Junior’s profile lists a Facebook user called Elivas Lumeti as his cousin. Contacted by AFP, Elivas Lumeti confirmed that she was Cedrick Junior's cousin. She said that his name was actually Cedric Isaac Shivonje and that he had been arrested in August, 2019.
Lumeti said that there was nobody called Paul Manyasi in the family.
“I am his cousin but he is in Kamiti prison, still alive. In our family there is no name like that,” she told AFP via WhatsApp.
Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation managed to speak to Cedric Isaac Shivonje in prison. In an interview published on November 20, 2019, he describes seeing his photographs on TV.
"We were watching the news, then my friends, they all start telling me, 'hey, are those your pictures?" Then, automatically, I saw them. They were mine," he said. "Then, when I decided to follow the story, it was about Paul Manyasi, who is not me."
Speaking in the same interview, lawyer James Mbugua accused Sky News of "stage managing" and "unprofessional conduct".
"Our clients were not consulted before the story was published. They were given insufficient information. And the story which has been published right now is saying that my client is dead. Well, you've seen for yourself that my client is alive and kicking," he said.
He said that Cedric's father, Isaac Beti, did not tell Sky News that his son was called Manyasi.
Shortly after Sky News published its investigation, Isaac Beti confirmed to Kenyan TV channel KTN that his son was in prison and that he was planning on visiting him.
In a statement, Colnet, the cleaning company 'Paul Manyasi' allegedly worked for, also denied having an employee by that name.
The Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) said it has carried out its own investigations following the report and concluded that there was no employee called Paul Manyasi registered at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
In a statement on November 22, 2019, Sky News apologised to Colnet for "suggesting the stowaway was one of their employees".
"Sky News regrets that our reporting was founded on misleading information," it said.
Contacted by AFP, a spokeswoman for London's Met Police said that efforts to identify the stowaway were ongoing.
"Fingerprints of the man have been taken and sent through the National Crime Agency to Interpol in Nairobi. The Met Police has been informed that a forensic fingerprint analysis was conducted with a negative result," she said via email.
The stowaway's identity currently remains a mystery. AFP will update this article if authorities publish further information.
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