Former KTN anchor Esther Arunga has finally reunited with her two daughters after a five-year separation.
Arunga lost custody of her daughters after the death of her three-year-old brother Sinclair Timberlake.
She was sentenced to a 10-month jail term on Thursday over the boy’s death, but was immediately freed on parole
Arunga’s two Australian-born daughters were placed in foster care after the death of their sibling.
Brisbane Supreme Court Justice Martin Burns was sympathetic to Arunga’s situation, saying she had suffered a “great deal” during the five years since her son’s death.
“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 county, to losing your son, husband and daughters,” he was quoted by 7news Australia.
Justice Burns concluded that Arunga’s cultural beliefs were a factor in initially misleading police.
“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.
“You clearly deferred to (your husband) for most of what you said and did and demonstrated a real sense of obligation to him.”
The former KTN anchor had on Monday pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact to manslaughter.
“I was terrified of being alone and I felt terrible because my husband was sick as well,” she confessed to the police as to why she did not speak up earlier, Australian Associated Press quoted.
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