Kenyan Man Alleged to KQ Stowaway Who Fell in London Speaks Out

A Kenyan man who was earlier reported to be the stowaway who fell from a Kenya Airways plane in London in June this year has spoken out.

In a report about two weeks ago, British media, Sky News released photos of a Kenyan man it identified as 29-year-old Paul Manyasi, an employee of a company that offers cleaning services at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), 

Sky said it established that this was the identity of the stowaway after weeks of investigations in Kenya.

However, the story took a new twist after a Kakamega family who had allegedly confirmed to Sky News that the stowaway was their son changed their stance, saying their son was incarcerated in Nairobi. 

It emerged that the photos Sky News had released were those of 25-year-old Cedric Shivonje Isaac, a man who is currently remanded at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in Nairobi.

In an interview with Daily Nation at Kenya’s largest detention facility, Shivonje confirmed the photos shared by the UK news outlet were picked from his Facebook page. Shivonje was arrested on August 7th this year on defilement allegations.

“I saw my pictures on Citizen TV but the name was not mine. They said I was a cleaner at Jomo Kenyatta Airport. The next day, a warden told me the full story and inmates started calling me ‘kifo’ and ‘maiti’, I cried a lot,” Cedric told the publication.

Court records seen by People Daily showed that Shivonje was arrested on accusations of defiling a girl on August 8th this year.

He was charged before a Kibera court on August 9th and pleaded not guilty two charges of defilement and indecent assault. The complainant is listed as BMO, a Class Seven pupil at a private school in Nairobi’s Kawangware area, according to records. 

Shivonje, a teacher at the complainant’s school, was detained after he failed to raise an Sh200,000 cash bail granted by the magistrate court.

Nation also spoke to Isaac Betti, the father of Shivonje and who had confirmed that the KQ stowaway was his son during an interview with Sky News.

Betti insisted that the reports that the stowaway was his son were untrue, claiming that Sky reporter John Sparks offered him Sh20,000 after the interview. He said the journalist did not explain what the cash was intended for.

He explained that he bought the Sky reporter’s suggestions because he did not want villagers to learn that his son had been incarcerated.

Betti indicated that he told the reporter he was not certain of the whereabouts of his son adding that he clarified to him that his son’s name is Cedric Shivonje Isaac.

“I could not tell them that my son was in jail…all this time I knew my son was in remand but I could not reveal to them. I wanted to protect him, I did not want the villagers to know that my son was in jail,” the man said.

Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and Colnet, a JKIA cleaning services company where Manyasi is alleged to have been working, denied the existence of such an employee.

The man fell off a KQ flight heading to London’s Heathrow Airport from Nairobi. His body fell into a garden in a residential property in Clapham, South London, at about 3.30 pm local time.