Melbourne mother gets 20 years for killing kids in lake

Akon Guode arrives at the Supreme Court for sentencing. Photo/AAP

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.

A group watches on as police divers prepare to remove Akon Guode's car from the lake. Photo/News Corp Australia

One-year-old Bol (left) and four-year-old twins Madit and Anger (right) died after the 4WD they were in crashed into a lake at Wyndham Vale in Melbourne's outer west. Photo/Twitter

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.

Joseph Manyang, the father of children. Photo/AAP

"People don't understand why you did what you did," the Victorian Supreme Court judge said.

"In my opinion your actions were the product of extreme desperation."