A mother who killed three of her children and tried to kill a fourth by driving the family car into a Melbourne lake has been jailed for at least 20 years.
Akon Guode, 37, was sentenced to a maximum of 26 years and six months with a non-parole period of 20 years over the deaths of her three children and attempted murder of a fourth child.
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The Sudanese refugee wailed in court as Justice Lex Lasry outlined the difficult personal circumstances Guode had experienced in the years before she killed her one-year-old son Bol, and four-year-old twins Hanger and Madi, by driving her 4WD into a Wyndham Vale lake on April 8, 2015.
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"People don't understand why you did what you did," the Victorian Supreme Court judge said.
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Advertise with NZME."In my opinion your actions were the product of extreme desperation."