Esther Arunga sentenced to 10 months but released immediately on parole for lying to police after Quincy Timberlake murdered their son

Esther Arunga sentenced to 10 months

Mumbi Mutuko

July 18, 2019 9:14 AM

Tough time for Esther Arunga

Former news anchor Esther Arunga

Former Kenyan journalist Esther Arunga has been jailed for 10 months in the murder of her son Sinclair Timberlake.

The 38-year-old was sentenced to 10 months in prison by Justice Martin Burns but immediately released on parole.

Police found out that her three-year-old son died as a result of blunt force trauma to his abdomen.

Esther was convicted of being an accessory after the fact to the manslaughter of Sinclair, who suffered fatal injuries.

Esther Arunga leaving Court Pulse Live Kenya

The Prosecutor noted that Esther changed her statement after her husband Quincy Timberlake was involuntarily admitted to a mental health facility.

She then opened up and told police she went into the bathroom and found Quincy hitting Sinclair in the stomach.

Judge sympathetic

The judge, Justice Martin Burns was sympathetic to Esther's situation when she spoke to the police investigating her son's death.

"You must be taken to have been in shock at the death of your son, at the times when you were interviewed ... and further to be grieving at your loss," he said.

Esther Arunga leaving Court in Australia Pulse Live Kenya

AAP news reported that the judge also pointed at Esther's cultural beliefs which he believed played a factor and she had suffered a "great deal" during the five years since.

"You went from being a wife and a mother, who was at that time nursing a six-month-old baby, and who was otherwise trying to establish your young family in a new county, to losing your son, husband and daughters," the judge said.

Mumbi Mutuko