Esther Arunga admits to lying about son’s death
A former television journalist lied to police about the circumstances that led to her son’s death in bid to protect her husband.
The former KTN anchor Esther Arunga on Monday pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact to manslaughter.
Ms Arunga admitted to lying to police in a bid to help her husband, Quincy Timberlake, to avoid punishment.
Mr Timberlake is accused of killing their three-year-old son Sinclair Timberlake. The boy died due to blunt force trauma to the abdomen in 2014 in their family home in Kallangur, Australia.
According to the Australian Associated Press, Crown Prosecutor Danny Boyle told the court that Ms Arunga had called the emergency services and told them that the boy had fallen down the stairs.
SEVERE BLUNT FORCE
An autopsy later revealed that the cause of death was “as a result of severe blunt force such as punching or stamping or similar”, which was not consistent with a fall.
Mr Boyle further said that Ms Arunga kept up the lie for 26 days only to open up when her husband was taken for a mental evaluation.
She then said that on the fateful night, she found Mr Timberlake hitting their son in the stomach and threw him against a wall. She had earlier told investigators that her husband was convinced that the boy had a devil in his stomach and he was trying to get it out.
“I was terrified of being alone and I felt terrible because my husband was sick as well,” she confessed to the police as to why she did not speak up earlier, AAP quotes.
Mr Boyle said that although Ms Arunga had not interfered with evidence, she had played a part in delaying the investigations and the arrest of the suspect.