Former television news anchor Esther Arunga has formally dropped from her official identity the surname of Quincy Timberlake, a man she once proudly announced as her husband.
Sixteen years after she adopted the name “Timberlake” at the height of one of Kenya’s most talked-about controversies, she has now reverted to the name she grew up with.
In a notice published in the Kenya Gazette on October 9, Ms Arunga’s lawyers stated, in part: “Our client, Esther Adongo Arunga... formerly known as Esther Adongo Timberlake, formally and absolutely renounced and abandoned the use of her former name Esther Adongo Timberlake.”
“All persons at all times [should] designate, describe and address her by her assumed name Esther Adongo Arunga only,” the notice added.
The name change marks yet another chapter in the story of Esther and Quincy Timberlake, a couple whose lives have played out in courtrooms on two continents.
Joseph Hellon and Esther Arunga at the press conference on Thursday. Hellon denied claims that he was leading a cult. Photo/DENNIS OKEYO
It also reverses a step she took in March 2010, when she told a press conference in Nairobi that she had officially changed her name from Esther Adongo Arunga to Esther Adongo Timberlake after exchanging vows with Mr Timberlake.
Before the drama, Ms Arunga was one of the most recognisable faces on Kenyan television. An alumna of Kenya High School, she worked at Capital FM and KTN, won the 2008 Chaguo la Teeniez Award for best teen TV anchor and was admitted to the bar in Nairobi in 2009.
Her life took a dramatic turn in 2009 when she joined the Finger of God Church, started by jazz musician Joseph Hellon. In February 2010, she, Mr Hellon and Mr Timberlake announced the formation of the PlaCenta Party, and she resigned from KTN the same day.
Former KTN news anchor Esther Arunga at the Muthaiga police station on February 21, 2010 after she was arrested for being member of a cult. Arunga quit her job at the TV station and joined the controversial ''Finger of God'' church.
Photo credit: File|Nation Media Group
That night, police raided a house in Nairobi’s Runda linked to the church. Mr Hellon was charged with running an illegal society but was released after a week in custody. Ms Arunga, who said she had been handed over to her parents without charge, later sued them, the police and media houses, seeking damages and orders restraining her parents – Dr Robert Arunga and Mrs Petoline Arunga – from interfering with her freedom.
Ms Arunga and Mr Timberlake relocated to Australia, where they sought asylum. Controversy would soon follow them there. Shortly before 2am on June 18, 2014, Ms Arunga called emergency services from their home north of Brisbane and told paramedics that their three-year-old son, Sinclair, had fallen down the stairs. An autopsy, however, found that the boy died from severe blunt force injuries that were inconsistent with a fall.
In 2019, Ms Arunga pleaded guilty to being an accessory and was sentenced to 10 months in prison, but was immediately released on parole.
The court heard that she had diverted attention from her husband for almost a month before telling police she had found him hitting the boy in the stomach, saying, “There’s a devil in his stomach; I have to get it out.”
In September 2023, Mr Timberlake pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the prosecution dropped the murder charge.
Justice Paul Freeburn described the boy's death as “brutal and incomprehensible” and jailed Mr Timberlake for 11 years, noting that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and psychosis and was of diminished responsibility at the time. The judge also counted the more than nine years he had already spent in pre-sentence custody, which meant Mr Timberlake could only spend a maximum of two more years behind bars.
In June this year, reports indicated that Mr Timberlake had completed the custodial part of his sentence but remained in immigration detention.
Ms Arunga’s address was listed in the gazette notice as being in Nairobi, Kenya, raising the possibility that she may have returned to the country. Her advocates were only identified in the notice as “LAK”.
