Quincy's mother laments light sentence given to Esther Arunga

Quincy Timberlake's mother Rosemeg Wambitta at her home in Mbeme, Kisumu County, on July 15, 2019. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The former KTN TV anchor on Monday pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact to manslaughter.
  • Ms Arunga had admitted to lying to the police in a bid to help her husband, Quincy Timberlake, avoid punishment.
  • She was handed a 10-month prison term but immediately freed her on parole.

Rosemeg Wambitta, the mother of Quincy Timberlake, has spoken out after Esther Arunga was sentenced on Thursday

Ms Wambitta expressed disappointment at the sentence terming it light. 

MURDER CASE

Ms Arunga been freed by an Australian court after she was convicted in the murder case of her three-year-old son in 2014.

Justice Martin Burns handed her a 10-month prison term but immediately freed her on parole.

The former KTN TV anchor on Monday pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact to manslaughter.

Ms Arunga had admitted to lying to the police in a bid to help her husband, Timberlake, avoid punishment.

‘’I have no reason to celebrate Arunga’s victory concerning the murder case against my son even if she is happy, “said Ms Wambita.

Speaking at her home in Mbeme, Kisumu County Ms Wambitta said she is hurting because she has no update about her son Timberlake and that no one is talking about him. 

“I have neither spoken nor heard from my son for many years. I don’t know if he is okay and how he is coping with the situation,” Ms Wambitta said.

Mr Timberlake is accused of killing his son Sinclair Timberlake. The boy died due to blunt force trauma to the abdomen in 2014 in their family home in Kallangur, Australia.

SYMPATHETIC

In his ruling on Thursday, Justice Burns is quoted by the Australian Associated Press as saying that he was sympathetic to her 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.

He concluded that Ms Arunga's cultural beliefs 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 country, to losing your son, husband and daughters," he said.