This archive report was first published on 17 November 2019.
On June 1st, a man fell from a Kenya Airways flight heading to London's Heathrow Airport from Nairobi. The incident sparked a mystery surrounding the identity of the stowaway.
On Thursday, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) made a new discovery that deepened the mystery. They found that the photo of a man earlier thought to be the stowaway was actually that of Cedric Shivonje, a rape suspect.
Shivonje is being held at Industrial Area Remand Prison in Nairobi, according to court records. DCI detectives visited the prison and questioned Shivonje, who is also a suspect in a defilement case.
“We would like to know all the details surrounding the so-called stowaway and the cause of the mix-up if any. We are also going to investigate whether the man who fell off the plane was a Kenyan or came from South Africa where the plane began the journey before stopping over at JKIA,” DCI boss George Kinoti said.
Shivonje was arrested on August 8th this year on accusations of defiling a girl. He was charged before a Kibera court on August 9th and pleaded not guilty to two charges of defilement and indecent assault.
Shivonje's parents had earlier confirmed to British media that the stowaway was their son, but later retracted their statements. The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and Colnet, a JKIA cleaning services company, denied the existence of an employee named Paul Manyasi, who was initially identified as the stowaway.
