The Australian prosecution service on Tuesday, September 12, withdrew murder charges it had preferred against Quincy Timberlake and instead opted to charge him with manslaughter.
Quincy Timberlake is the husband of former KTN news anchor Esther Arunga.
Timberlake had been accused of killing his 3-year-old son in 2014, and he had initially pleaded guilty to the crime.
The trial that was expected to take place in the Brisbane Supreme Court this week has now been canceled due to Timberlake’s guilty plea. Instead, he is now set to be sentenced on September 29 for manslaughter.
In Australia, manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment in the Supreme Court.
However, it remains uncertain whether Timberlake will receive the full 25-year sentence. This is after a medical medical assessment that diagnosed him with psychosis and schizophrenia. The medical conditions were revealed during pre-trial discussions.
It’s worth noting that Timberlake has already spent nearly a decade in prison since his arrest – three months after his son’s tragic death.
Initially, both Timberlake and his wife, Esther Arunga, had claimed that their son had fallen down the stairs.
However, conflicting information from emergency services led Arunga to change her statement. She admitted that their son had been struck in the stomach and thrown against the wall by Timberlake.
As a result, Arunga was convicted of being an accessory to manslaughter, since there was no evidence during the investigation to suggest that she had harmed her son.
Timberlake had initially divulged intentions to harm his son prior to the murder. He had claimed that he believed the child was possessed by aliens residing within his stomach.
Timberlake had moved his family to Australia after an unsuccessful attempt to mount a presidential campaign in 2010.
Quincy Timberlake son with KCSE grade A- joins aeronautical school after online fundraiser
In other news, Quincy Timberlake Junior, the other son of Quincy Timberlake and stepson to Esther Arunga, officially joined the Kenya Aeronautical College based at Wilson Airport.
On August 4, Kenyans of goodwill contributed Ksh1 million for the benefit of the three children left behind by the pastor.
At the time, Thuku followed up on the lives of the children sired by Arunga’s estranged husband, Quincy Timberlake, and his first wife, the late Rose Mweni Gideon, and ascertained that they were struggling to access basic needs and education.
Timberlake married Rose Mweni Gideon in the 1990s. The two lived together in Komarock, Nairobi, and were blessed with three sons. He, however, deserted them in 2009 for Esther Arunga, then a KTN news anchor.
Thuku, who helped organize a fundraiser to benefit the three children, noted that the team spent Ksh400,000 to enroll the 19-year-old in college.
“We have spent close to Ksh400,000 to get him to join the college. That will take him one year. We hope to put him through for two years and then do another fundraiser. He will be in China for the last two years,” stated the lawyer.
“I am almost in tears. Without you folks, this young man would never have even dreamt of getting there. Not even a dream. With all his brilliant brains he would have wasted always in the streets of Nairobi.”
