Court hears witchcraft, infidelity claims before committing mother to stand trial for murdering children in Victorian lake
A mother charged with murdering her three youngest children by driving into a Melbourne lake has pleaded not guilty, a day after a court heard bizarre claims of 'witchcraft', infidelity and drug use.
Akon Guode, 37, has now been committed to stand trial for murder. She has been denied bail.
The mother-of-seven on Thursday pleaded not guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court to murdering her one-year-old son, Bol, and twins Hanger and her brother Madit, four, who died when her car crashed into Lake Gladman on April 8 last year.
She also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of her six-year-old daughter, Alual, who survived after being pulled from the water in Wyndham Vale, and is now applying for bail.
On Wednesday, a key witness told the court Goude had told her that she was 'under a spell' when she drove into the lake.
The witness, who can not be named, said Goude told her after the crash that the father of her children's wife may have employed a witch doctor against her.
The witness said Goude believed she may have been under a spell at the time of the fatal incident. She said months later she spoke to Goude again, who admitted she had committed the crime.
"Maybe she did something to make her drive the car into the water," the witness told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
"Like a spell."
"She didn't know how she did it, how it happened."
The witness, a woman who can't be identified, says she ran into mother-of-seven Guode a second time, a few months after the incident on April 8 last year.
She says she asked Guode: "Did you do it?" and claims Guode replied: "Yeah, I did what I did."
"But she's thinking it's a spell or something," the woman told the court.
"I told her, no I don't think so."
Guode is charged with murdering her one-year-old son, Bol, and twins Hanger and her brother Madit, four.
The 37-year-old is also charged with attempting to murder her six-year-old daughter, Alual, who survived after being pulled from the water in Wyndham Vale.
All four children were fathered by Joseph Manyang.
He and Guode began an affair after she immigrated to Australia from Sudan and Mr Manyang left his wife in 2010.
Mr Manyang moved into a house on his own, but visited both families regularly.
Prosecutors have said there were rumours circulating that he was going back to his wife.
The witness says she overheard Guode - before the crash - claim Mr Manyang's wife was threatening her.
Guode allegedly said she would "do something to end it."
"She had enough," the woman told the court.
"She just wanted to give up."
The court has been told the witness has some mental health issues and has previously been jailed.
She has admitted she was using ice and drinking in April last year, around the time of the alleged conversations involving Guode.
The woman also claims members of the Sudanese community have pressured her not to testify, with one man allegedly telling her she could be "gotten rid of".
Guode says a dizzy spell caused the crash and Mr Manyang believes it was an accident.
The court has been told she suffered from headaches that had affected her driving in the year before the incident.
"It's unfair for my client to be in that position," Julian McMahon told the court.
"[The witness'] priors weren't disclosed and her criminal history with police wasn't disclosed."
