Former KTN TV anchor Esther Arunga admitted that she lied to police about the incidents that led to her son’s death to protect her husband Quincy Timberlake.
Appearing before court on Monday, Ms Arunga pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact to manslaughter.
Timberlake is accused of killing their three-year-old son Sinclair Timberlake, who died due to blunt force trauma to the abdomen in 2014 in their family home in Australia.
Crown Prosecutor Danny Boyle told the court that Ms Arunga had called the emergency services and told them that the boy had fallen down the stairs.
Autopsy reveals cause of death
However, an autopsy later revealed that the cause of death was “as a result of severe blunt force such as punching or stamping or similar”, which was not consistent with a fall.
Mr Boyle further said that Ms Arunga kept up the lie for 26 days only to open up when her husband was taken for a mental evaluation, according to the Australian Associated Press.
Later she confessed that on the fateful night, she found Timberlake hitting their son in the stomach and threw him against a wall.
The court was told that Ms Arunga had earlier told investigators that her husband was convinced the boy had a devil in his stomach and he was trying to get it out.
Confession
“I was terrified of being alone and I felt terrible because my husband was sick as well,” she confessed to the police.
Mr Boyle told Justice Martin Burns that although Ms Arunga had not interfered with evidence, she had played a part in delaying the probe and the arrest of the suspect.
Defence lawyer Katarina Prskalo said that Ms Arunga had believed her husband was unwell and had tried to get him help in 2013 adding that she also had her own mental issues.
The judge is expected to sentence Ms Arunga on Thursday.