Esther Adongo Arunga, also known as Esther Timberlake, is a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, solicitor, and a former television and radio presenter from

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, who now resides in Australia. She is married to

Quincy Timberlake Quincy Zuma Wambitta Timberlake (born 22 April 1980) is a Kenyan political activist, occultist, and former presidential candidate, now resident in Australia. Along with Esther Arunga and Joseph Hellon, he is the co-founder of the PlaCenta Part ...

and is a co-founder of the PlaCenta Party (Platinum Centralizer and Unionist Party of Kenya).

Early life and education

Esther Arunga has a twin brother and six other siblings. She was raised a

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

."Esther Arunga Timberlake pregnant and loving it"
, ''Salon Magazine'', October 2010. She was educated at

Kenya High School The Kenya High School is a public girls' high school located on Mandera Road in the upmarket Kileleshwa Ward and suburb of Dagoretti North Sub-County in Kenya's capital city, Nairobi. The school, which follows the national curriculum, is one ...

, earned Bachelor's degrees in communication and law from the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, returned to Kenya for a one-year degree course at the

Kenya School of Law The Kenya School of Law (KSL) is the only bar school in Kenya. After completing an undergraduate degree in law from a recognized university, students attend the Kenya School of Law to prepare for admission to the Kenyan Bar. History The Kenya ...

and was admitted to the bar in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

in 2009.

Broadcasting

She worked as an announcer and journalist at

98.4 Capital FM 98.4 Capital FM (other variations of the name include Capital FM and Capital FM Kenya) is a Kenyan urban music radio station. Location Its offices are situated in Two Rivers, the largest mall in East Africa, Nairobi; the capital and largest ...

in Nairobi and for the

Kenya Television Network Kenya Television Network (KTN) is a Kenyan free-to-air television network that was launched in March 1990 by Jared Kangwana. It is headquartered at Standard Group Centre, Nairobi. It was the first privately owned free-to-air television networ ...

. She won the 2008 CHAT Award for best Teen TV Anchor/Presenter.

Church, politics and marriage

In 2009 Arunga joined the Finger of God Church started by Joseph Hellon, a distant relative.Shirley Genga
"Hellon shares on life's ups and down"
''The Standard'', 6 April 2013. She became engaged to Wilson Malaba, an elder of the church, but in early 2010 called off the engagement and moved out of her parents' house to live in a church-owned mansion with Hellon and a number of other church members. She has since said that her parents wanted to marry her to a politician in the government.Stevens Muendo
"Season 2 of Esther Arunga saga"
''The Standard'', 6 July 2012, p. 2. That February, she, Hellon, and Quincy Timberlake announced the formation of the PlaCenta Party (Platinum Centralizer and Unionist Party) of Kenya and Hellon's candidacy for the presidency and Arunga's for the seat of

Karachuonyo Constituency Karachuonyo Constituency is an electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of eight constituencies in Homa Bay County Homa Bay County is a county in the former Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Homa Bay. The county has ...

and the deputy presidency. Arunga resigned from her job as a news anchor at Kenya Television Network the same day. That night, a number of people associated with the church, including Arunga and Hellon, were arrested and charged with running an unregistered association, although the church had been registered five years before. Computers and laptops were destroyed, documents confiscated and vehicles impounded. She and Timberlake both say they were isolated and tortured. She announced lawsuits against her parents, psychiatrist Dr. Frank Njenga who allegedly forcefully aborted her baby under political orders, the Attorney General, and the Kenya Police for wrongful imprisonment and torture."Esther Arunga weds Quincy Timberlake"
Capital, 4 March 2010. Arunga was released after two days and on 3 March 2010 married Quincy Timberlake while he was still in custody; however, she has since stated that Hellon performed the ceremony at another time.

Australia

Feeling unsafe,David Odongo
"Arunga blames parents for a rocky start in marriage"
''The Nairobean'', 24 January 2014. the Timberlakes left Kenya, and by way of

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

went to Australia, where , she is a barrister at the

New South Wales Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court ...

and has acquired citizenship. She has announced that she will run for office in Kenya, and that she would be accepting an offer from

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

to co-host a features show. In June 2014, the elder of the couple's two sons died after an apparent accident at their home. In September of that year her husband was charged with the murder of the child, to which he subsequently pleaded not guilty in court. Esther Timberlake was later charged as an accessory and was released on bail. She gave new evidence that her husband had used healing techniques on the boy and had pressed his stomach repeatedly and thrown him against a wall. She is reported to have changed her name to Chryslertte Provydence Timberlake. In 2016 she was reported to have been working somewhere in Australia.Kwarula Otieno
"Finger Of God Pastor Quincy Timberlake Admitted To Mental Hospital After Assaulting Former TV Queen Esther Arunga"
''The Star'', 19 April 2016.On 18 July 2019, she was given a 10 month sentence with a parole for being an accessory to her son's death in 2014 allegedly committed by her husband, Quincy Timberlake.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arunga, Esther Living people Kenyan television journalists Kenyan women television journalists Kenyan radio journalists Kenyan women radio journalists Kenyan radio presenters Kenyan women radio presenters Kenyan women television presenters Kenyan television presenters Year of birth missing (living people) University of Wollongong alumni Kenya School of Law alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Kenya High School