K24 TV was forced to redo a story about an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide in Ikolomani, Kakamega County on Wednesday, April 29, 2020, after it emerged that some details were false.
The erroneous report from the K24 Digital website claimed that the young boy committed suicide after a fight with his younger sister over a TV remote control. It was titled 'Boy, 11, commits suicide after losing fight over TV remote control to sister'
A feature aired by the Mediamax-owned TV station on Friday, May 1, indicates that the boy did not have a younger sister.
"I see K24 TV went to my home and retold the story truthfully.
"My dead cousin does not have any sister whom they fought with as previously alleged," a family member remarked.
The boy had been angered by an act by his younger brother and went into his room where he hanged himself.
"His younger sibling took the remote control and hid it. When he saw that the remote control had been hidden, he went into his bedroom. We thought that he was angry and had gone to sleep. I was at the shop when they told me that he had hanged himself," his father stated.
Grieving relatives who visited the deceased's family to mourn expressed their disbelief at the boy's decision to take his own life.
Leon Lidigu, an experienced journalist who happens to be a cousin of the deceased on April 30, 2020, demanded that K24 TV apologises for airing the feature.
"Dear K24 TV, my grieving uncle is in no state of mind to give an interview. You misrepresented facts, got his surname and the mortuary wrong.
"My family is going through a lot right now and you misrepresenting facts is very unfair and taking advantage of a grief-stricken father is very low and not journalism at all.
"You owe us a public apology profusely because these are lies," Lidigu wrote on Wednesday, April 29.
Contacted by Kenyans.co.ke on April 30, Lidigu called for the family to be accorded privacy as they mourn.
{"preview_thumbnail":"/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/mU9Lj8KofwM.jpg?itok=1hSdeVHY","video_url":"","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]}
