This archive report was first published on 21 November 2019.
On November 13, 2019, Sky News aired a documentary identifying Paul Manyasi as the man who fell from a plane at Heathrow Airport in London. However, the story contained a crucial error: the photos used were of Cedric Isaac Shivonje, a 25-year-old man serving a sentence at the Kamiti maximum-security prison.
Shivonje, a remandee at the Kamiti maximum-security prison, was convicted of defilement charges at the Kibera law court. His father, Isaac Beti, had misled Sky News, claiming his son was not in prison, in exchange for Sh20,000.
Kenya Airports Authority and Colnet, the cleaning company where Manyasi was allegedly employed, denied any involvement with a Paul Manyasi. Sky News has since pulled down the story and deleted the link on John Sparks' Twitter page.
Shivonje's emergence has complicated the identification of the man who fell from the plane on June 30, 2019. His father, Isaac Beti, admitted to misleading Sky News to avoid revealing his son's imprisonment to the villagers.
MJM Law LLP, a Nairobi-based law firm, has threatened to sue Sky News for defamation, demanding a full retraction of the article, an apology, and a written commitment not to publish more articles on Isaac Shivonje.
