Quincy Timberlake pleads guilty to manslaughter

Esther Arunga with Quincy Timberlake [Photo: Courtesy]

Quincy Timberlake has pleaded guilty to manslaughter of his three-year-old son, Sinclair Timberlake, in 2014.

Quincy is the husband of former media personality, Esther Arunga.

On June 18, 2014, their son Sinclair died at their Australian home in Kallangur, north of Brisbane.

Quincy would be charged with the murder three months after his son's death. However, the Australian Prosecution Service withdrew the murder charge and opted to prefer manslaughter charges instead.

He was expected to stand trial at the Brisbane Supreme Court this week but pleaded guilty on Tuesday, September 12.

Quincy is scheduled to be sentenced on September 29.

Initially, both Quincy and Arunga had told the Australian police that their son had fallen down the stairs and died a short while later.

Twenty-six days later, Arunga would however change her statement, claiming Quincy threw their son on the wall and stamped him on the stomach, a revelation consistent with the autopsy report.

According to her, the actions were provoked by her husband's imagination that the son had evil spirits hence the need to get rid of them in the manner that led to his death.

Arunga was charged with being an accessory to murder and was handed a 10-month jail term but was immediately freed on parole.

The court considered Arunga's mindset when sentencing her.

Judge Martin Burns observed that Arunga's beliefs had led to her tribulations as she tried to bring up a family in a foreign land, and worse still, losing a son in the process.

Some information on this story came from The Australian.