A Melbourne mother accused of murdering three of her children is devastated by what has happened, a court has been told.
Police allege Akon Guode, 36, murdered one-year-old Bol, his four-year-old sister Hanger and her twin brother Madit when her car ploughed off a road and into Lake Gladman four months ago.
The Wyndham Vale woman looked blankly ahead when she appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
"She says, as a loving mother, she is devastated by what has happened," Guode's lawyer George Zolis told magistrate Frank Jones.
"She asked me to tell Your Honour that."
The court heard Guode had never been in custody before.
Guode and her daughter Aluel, who was five at the time, survived after being pulled from the water after the crash on April 8 this year.
Several family members, including a man understood to be the father of the deceased children, packed the court for Guode's brief filing hearing.
"There are members of the deceased and accused family in court," prosecutor Tim Bourbon said.
Guode was remanded in custody to reappear on December 8.
Mr Bourbon told the court CCTV footage had captured the street near the incident, and "certain things", such as driving.
Mr Zolis asked that Guode be kept in protective custody, in light of the allegations against her, and asked that she get professional cost support.
"The enormity of the charges and the inability to see her children will have a substantial effect on her," he said.
"She has never been incarcerated before, she's never been in trouble in her lifetime."
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