A former TV anchor lied to police about the circumstances that led to her son’s death in a bid to protect her husband in Australia.
Esther Arunga yesterday pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder.
Arunga admitted to lying to police in a bid to help her husband, Quincy Timberlake, evade punishment.
Justice Martin Burns will sentence her on Thursday.
Mr Timberlake is accused of killing their three-year-old son, Sinclair Timberlake.
The boy died due to injury to the abdomen at their family home in Kallangur, Australia in 2014.
Australian Associated Press quoted the Crown Prosecutor Danny Boyle as saying Arunga had called the emergency services and told them that the boy had fallen down the stairs.
But a postmortem examination revealed that Sinclair died "as a result of a severe blunt force such as punching or stamping or similar" and his injuries were inconsistent with a fall.
Mr Boyle said Arunga diverted the spotlight away from her husband for 26 days.
It was not until Quincy was involuntarily admitted to a mental health facility that Arunga changed her statement.
She told police she went into the bathroom on the night of June 17 to find Quincy hitting Sinclair in the stomach.
"He then threw him against the wall," the court heard she told investigators.
Arunga claimed her husband was saying "there's a devil in his stomach, I have to get it out".
She said Quincy had a strong arm and "even a grown man can't survive that punch".
The court heard that Arunga did not speak up earlier because she was afraid.
"I was terrified of being alone and I felt terrible because my husband was sick as well," she told police.
