This archive report was first published on 13 November 2019.
Published on November 13, 2019, a Sky News report featured a man from Kakamega who authenticated an e-fit image of a stowaway who fell off a Kenya Airways flight to London's Heathrow Airport on June 30. However, the man has now denied claims the 29-year-old man identified as Paul Manyasi is his son.
Isaac Manyasi, the man who appeared on the Sky News report, told KTN News that he believed his son, Shirunja Isaac, is still alive and being detained at the Industrial Area Police station.
"It certainly cannot be him. I don't believe so," Isaac Manyasi said.
He claimed that he hadn't reached his son since July 2017 and believed his son was alive because someone who lived with him told him a week ago that his son was being held at Industrial Area Police Station.
Isaac and his wife Janet had previously confirmed e-fit images provided by the London Metropolitan Police as a matching depiction of their missing son in a Sky News report.
Janet had even appealed for aid to repatriate her son's body for burial at their home in Kakamega, saying, "I would really love for him to be buried here but the expenses won't allow us."
The family had told the British broadcaster's Africa Correspondent, John Sparks, that their son left Kakamega for the city in 2016 and they had been in touch with him until July 2017.
However, the Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) has disputed reports that Paul Manyasi worked at the airport, stating that the name Paul Manyasi was missing in its list of staff cleared to work at the airport.
"A security multi-agency team has conducted investigations on the allegations made in the (Sky) news article to the effect that the stowaway worked at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and would like to state that the identity of the stowaway is an open and active investigation and any information received will be investigated to ensure a factual conclusion," KAA said in a statement.
