Shock as police say Esther Arunga son death not accident

The husband of former TV anchor Esther Arunga was on Tuesday charged with the murder of the couple’s three-year-old son.

Australian detectives arrested Mr Quincy Timberlake over the death on June 18 this year.

The boy, whose name was given as Sinclair, was reported to have died after falling down the stairs but police said a postmortem showed injuries that were not consistent with a fall.

The Kenyan family lives in Kallangur, north of Brisbane.

An officer who answered a Daily Nation call at the Kallangur Police Beat’s Child Protection and Investigation Unit confirmed that Mr Timberlake had been charged, but did not want to give the details of the case.

COMMANDER AWAY

“Yes, there is such a case but for details, kindly call the police station in eight hours, as the station commander is away,” he said. Australian time is seven-and-a-half hours ahead of Kenya’s.

Australian newspaper, Courier Mail, on Tuesday reported that Mr Timberlake was arrested on Monday and charged on Tuesday morning.

On June 25, the couple was taken from their home for questioning, a week after their son died on June 18.

The couple told the police that the child had been playing with his two-year-old brother when he fell down the stairs.

After the incident, the parents gave him a painkiller and put him to sleep but his condition did not improve.

When his condition worsened, the couple allegedly called paramedics who pronounced him dead.

Kenya’s High Commissioner to Australia, Isaiah Kabira, said at the time the matter was still under investigation by the Australian government.

In a video posted on YouTube by Australia’s 7 News, police are seen cordoning off the couple’s home.

Ms Arunga is also captured weeping as she sat down. Moments later, she is escorted to a police vehicle as she tries to hide her face with a white cap.

INTERNAL INJURIES

A postmortem on the body of the young boy was conducted to determine the circumstances in which he died.

On Tuesday, Australian newspapers reported that the police charged Mr Timberlake after analysing the “significant” internal injuries that the boy had sustained before he died.

Ms Arunga’s parents told the Nation that they had not communicated with their daughter or her husband for three years.

“She has not called me to inform me of anything. I even heard the news of their son’s death from the media. I do not know any other thing,” Mrs Petroline Arunga said.

Mr Timberlake’s mother, Rosemeg Wambita, said she was not even aware that her son was arrested on Tuesday.

“I have not spoken with him and he did not even tell me anything about their son’s death. I am very sad and I just want to condole with him and support him but I cannot,” she said, adding that she was seeking to contact the Kenyan High Commission to be connected to her son.

FORCIBLY HELD HER

Four years ago, Ms Arunga sued her parents, Dr Robert Arunga and Mrs Arunga, alleging that they locked her in their house and forcibly subjected her to psychiatric tests.

She then declared that she was formally married to Mr Timberlake who was in police custody at the time. She demanded that her parents pay her Sh300 million in damages.

She had been in the spotlight after police arrested her over the activities of the Finger of God church.

The church, then run by Mr Timberlake and musician Joseph Hellon, sparked controversy in Kenya after it was reported to be a cult.

Mr Hellon fell out with Mr Timberlake soon after the formation of a political party, the Platinum Centraliser, commonly known as the PlaCenta Party.