For a long time, Esther Arunga was the darling of the Kenyan media fraternity. She was young, beautiful and had intelligence in abundance.
She was well spoken and was ambitious. She was everything the Kenyan audience wanted in a media personality. She started off at Capital FM where she hit abit of a speed bump when she clashed with a co-worker who had more clout in the form of Pinky Ghelani. That story became an urban legend after the pair clashed live on air.
Esther Arunga then moved to KTN where she really bloomed and came into her own. She was now set for an illustrious career until it just wasn’t. As for what happened, allow me to take you through everything.
In 2009 Arunga joined the Finger of God Church started by Joseph Hellon, a distant relative.
She became engaged to Wilson Malaba, an elder of the church, but in early 2010 they called off the engagement. She then moved out of her parents’ house to live in a church-owned mansion with Hellon, his wife, and a number of other church members.
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 and the deputy presidency.
Arunga then resigned from her job as a news anchor at KTN 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.
Because that is how Kenyan police officers conduct investigations… Thoroughly.
She and Timberlake both say they were isolated and tortured. She announced lawsuits against her parents, a psychiatrist, the Attorney General and the Kenya Police for wrongful imprisonment and torture. 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.
Esther Arunga and her husband then left Kenya and they settled down with their young family in Australia. In 2012, Esther Arunga became a registered barrister at the New South Wales Supreme Court and acquired Australian citizenship.
The couple lost their eldest son in 2014 when he died after it was claimed Esther Arunga’s husband had attempted to perform an exorcism on the lad. In September of the same year, he was charged with murder and Esther too was charged but as an accessory and was granted bail.
She testified that the child died after his father attempted “healing techniques” which included Quincy pressing down on the lad’s stomach and throwing him against a wall.
The last we heard from her, she had changed her name to Chryslertte Provydence Timberlake and currently works as a storekeeper.
We at Mpasho will keep you updated if we hear anything from her but a quick look at social media platforms inform us that she has made nary a peep or squeak since the last time anything was reported about her back in 2016.
