Why Australian authorities dropped murder charges against Quincy Timberlake
Murder charges against Mr Quincy Timberlake, husband of former television presenter Ms Esther Arunga, have been dropped.
Reports in the Australia media indicate the Australian Prosecution Service on September 12, 2023, dropped the charges after Mr Timberlake, who had been accused of killing his three-year-old son in 2014, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Mr Timberlake and Arunga relocated to Australia from Kenya in 2012, leaving behind a trail of controversy over their personal life.
Police said the death of the couple’s son took place on June 18, 2014, at their Kallangur home, north of Brisbane.
Mr Timbelake, who left Kenya controversially, was supposed to stand trial at the Brisbane Supreme Court following a move to vacate the judge-only trial.
“He is now scheduled to be sentenced on September 29, 2023, after the prosecutor, Caitlin Penfold, accepted the guilty plea to manslaughter in the Brisbane Supreme Court,” International Media in Australia reported.
According to Australian law, the punishment for manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment in the Supreme Court.
It remains unclear what punishment awaits Timberlake, a former aspirant in Kenya’s presidential polls, as he has been behind bars for almost a decade in relation to the incident.
In addition, the court heard he was suffering from psychosis and schizophrenia.
Mr Timberlake had initially told police his son fell from the stairs and was not breathing when emergency services were called to the house in 2014.
The boy died a short time later despite efforts by paramedics.
Ms Arunga later told police her husband had punched the young boy in the stomach and also threw him against a wall.
The former television star was convicted for being an accessory after the fact to the boy’s manslaughter after she’d tried to mislead police about her husband hurting their son.
It was never suggested Ms Arunga had harmed her son.
The crown prosecution case against Mr Timberlake alleged he’d murdered his three-year-old because he’d believed the child was possessed by aliens who were residing in his stomach.
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