Paper publishes picture taken from Facebook of a man also named Akaash Narayan

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Sydney Morning Herald has apologised after it published a photo of the wrong person in an article about a man who allegedly shot his stepmother with a nail gun on Christmas Day.

On Thursday, the Herald reported that Akaash Narayan, a 20-year-old man from Bonnyrigg Heights in Sydney, allegedly shot his stepmother, Ragni Narayan, in the head with a nail gun after an argument on Christmas Day.

However, the newspaper published a photo of a man also named Akaash Narayan, who was not involved.

Narayan’s photo was taken from Facebook and published online and on page three of Thursday’s newspaper.

“I am in no way involved in this disgusting act,” Narayan wrote on Facebook on Thursday night. “My character and reputation is being slandered because I share the same name and ethnicity as the person who committed this.

“Your inability to investigate … is abusive and disgraceful.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An apology to Akaash Narayan, published on page two of the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday.

“We are good people and this has tarnished me in the eyes of thousands who read your inaccurate and false information … I can promise you, Fairfax Media, I will be taking this further.”

On Thursday night, the Herald updated their online article to include an apology to Narayan, and on Friday they printed the same apology on page two.

“A previous version of this story ‘Woman allegedly shot with nail gun by her stepson’ included a photograph that was purportedly of the stepson,” it read. “That photo was of the wrong person. The man pictured had no involvement in the incident. We unreservedly apologise to the man pictured for the hurt and embarrassment caused.”

Akaash Narayan told Guardian Australia on Friday he was distressed “after everything I have gone through”.

“At the moment I’m unsure of my next steps, I’m not in the right state of mind,” he said.

In 2014, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age published the wrong photograph of a Melbourne teenager they identified as terrorist Numan Haider, who stabbed two police officers.

Both newspapers printed a front-page photo of Abu Bakar Alam – an unrelated man – labelling him a “teenage terrorist”.

Alam had no connection with terrorism or with Haider, and worked at a Hungry Jack’s.

The newspapers apologised unreservedly and the Age’s then-editor-in-chief, Andrew Holden, said there would be “a review into the way we verify photos downloaded from Facebook”.

The Age later published a front-page apology to Alam, with the headline “the Age says sorry”.

The Sydney Morning Herald said it had no comment.