2/10: Man claiming to be Nyachae’s son was deported from USA over rape conviction

Nyachae’s– A man claiming to be a son to the late politician Simon Nyachae was deported from the US after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in 2006.

Twelve years later, Rodney D. Chweya moved to overturn his plea under newly enacted Penal Code and claimed that, due to his defense counsel’s inaccurate advice, he did not understand that his plea subjected him to deportation in vain.

He also argued he was affected by his lawyer’s failure to bargain for an immigration-neutral plea.

The trial court denied the motion, and he appealed in vain.

The court gave him a suspended three-year state prison sentence and ordered him to serve a year in county jail. Four years later, in 2010, the Department of Homeland Security charged Chweya with removability for his conviction. The department noted that he was a citizen of Kenya who had come to the United States on a visa in 1988 when he was 10 years old.

An immigration judge sustained the charge of his deportation which was followed by the Board of Immigration Appeals that affirmed the same saying a conviction of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor was an aggravated felony that subjected Chweya to deportation. Under US law he is banned from returning to the US for at least 10 years.

He was denied an application for adjustment of status and was told he did not merit a favorable exercise of discretion because he had an extensive criminal record including, in addition to his sex offense, convictions in 1995.Rodney has an extensive record of arrests for drunk driving and kidnapping. This bring in question his credibility as a witness.

Chweya and his mother Margaret Chweya claim connection to Nyachae. Margaret denied any connection to Jacob Machuki and Michael Pondo. She insisted that the late minister was the father of her children, Rodney, John Paul and Patricia.

However, two men who claim to have married Margaret presented new evidence to support their claim of being the fathers of her two sons.

Court document is here below

People v. Chweya(2) (1)

At the Family Court Judge Eric Ogola, Machuki submitted birth records, a nursery school report card and a photo featuring him, Rodney, and Margaret as evidence of his paternity. Machuki also included a letter he said was written by Chweya to his father, Omogaka Mokaya, in 1975.

Michael Pondo, on the other hand, submitted birth records and antenatal attendance sheet he said showed Chweya’s pregnancy. He attached an outpatient card, a school fees receipt, and a receipt for Sh 925 as proof that he paid the hospital bill when Paul was born at Mater Hospital. Among Pondo’s new evidence is bank documentation related to a house in Loresho which he bought for Chweya.

In another twist of events Margaret’s daughter, Patricia Moraa, turned against her mother after filing an affidavit denying that she is Nyachae’s daughter. Moraa narrated in her court documents that she was born in California, US, in 1987.

She said she is certain that her father is one George Gordon Odero. She also furnished the court with her birth certificate showing her father’s name as Odero.

Moraa said she never authorized her mother to sue on her behalf in the Nyachae succession case, adding that she is willing to testify in person to distance herself from the case. The fresh evidence gives the case a new twist even as Nyachae’s family push for a DNA test to be conducted on Rodney and Paul.

Nyachae family’s lawyer, George Muchiri, showed her a birth certificate indicating her daughter was called Patricia Moraa Odero.

On the stand, Margaret had claimed that Odero was a stalker while she was at the university but she offered no explanation for the marriage certificate or the birth certificate. Margaret said she ‘interacted’ and entertained him because she knew he was a dangerous man and may hurt her. Documents produced in court included a marriage certificate confirming that she married Odero in Nevada, US.

Contrary to the testimony offered by Margaret, Rodney and John Paul, the parties have so far refused to undergo DNA tests. This was revealed in a new affidavit which shows they are reluctant to accede to the process that would confirm their paternity, even though the Nyachae family is willing to shoulder the cost of the DNA tests. The court also heard that Chweya only changed her name to “Nyachae” after Mzee Simeon Nyachae passed away.

Nyachae’s family has cast doubts on her allegations. In his affidavit, Charles Nyachae denies ever knowing Margaret or Rodney Chweya and accuses them for seeking to defraud the Nyachae family. Facebook and Whatsapp messages produced by Margaret Chweya in court appear to show Charles referring to her as Omongina (meaning “Mother” in Kisii).

The woman sued Charles Nyachae, Angela Nyachae and Eric Nyachae, who the former minister appointed as joint executors of his Will in order to be recognized as the deceased’s fourth wife.

In her case, Chweya claims that she married Nyachae in 1973 under customary law.

However, asked by the executor’s lawyer George Muchiri, who received the dowry, she claimed her late uncle received an envelope.

The woman claimed that during Nyachae’s burial, she sent envoys to be allowed to attend the ceremony.