LATEST: The mother of three children who died after their car plunged into a Wyndham Vale lake is too heartbroken to return home, their grieving father says.
Akon Guode, 35, is understood to be staying with her aunt because there are too many memories of her children – one-year-old Bol and four-year-old twins Anger and Madit – at their Wyndham Vale home.
“She has a broken heart,” her partner Joseph Tito Manyang said.
The revelation comes as a picture begins to emerge of the “lovely kids” whose lives were cut short in horrific circumstances on Wednesday afternoon.
The children’s father, Joseph Tito Manyang, was at the family’s home on Friday morning, sharing memories of happier times.
“They liked to play,” he said of his youngest children.
“They liked to go to the park. Always they liked to go to the shop. They’re lovely kids.
“They liked drawing. Always, they liked to draw animals.”
A well-wisher pays tributes. Photo: Shawn Smits
Meanwhile, The teenage sister of the three children who died when their car ploughed into a suburban Melbourne lake says she hopes to have twins one day as a tribute to her siblings.
Akoi Chabiet, 19, shared fond memories of her siblings – one-year-old Bol and four-year-old twins Anger and Madit – outside their family home in Wyndham Vale two days after their lives were tragically cut short.
She also spoke highly of her “devoted” mother Akon Guode, who was at the wheel of the Toyota Kluger that ploughed through 20 metres of scrub, before plunging into the lake of Manor Lakes Boulevard.
“My mother is a very good lady. She would never deliberately do this to hurt us or hurt my siblings,” the 19-year-old student said
Ms Chabiet recalled how her mother helped her with her VCE exams last year and encouraged her to go to university. She’s now studying at Deakin.
The childrens’ grandmother, Umjuma Deng, arrived in Melbourne from Sydney and was in tears on Friday morning.
“It’s very hard for me. I’m their grandma. We lost three kids. It’s very hard,” she said outside the family home.
“My heart is broken. I loved these kids. I’m really sad. I love my family.”
Many other relatives from Sydney and Adelaide will be coming to Melbourne for the funeral, she said.
Friends and relatives pay tributes. Photo: Shawn Smits
Ms Guode was the wheel of her Toyota Kluger when it veered off Manor Lakes Boulevard at Wyndham Vale and plunged into Lake Gladman about 3.40pm on Wednesday.
One-year-old Bol died at the scene. One of his older twin siblings died in an ambulance en route to hospital, while the other died in hospital.
Their five-year-old sister Awel, who was also in the car, remains in a serious condition at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Mr Manyang said the recovering five-year-old had her own theory about what had happened to her younger siblings. “She said, ‘I fell into the water and the crocodiles took my brothers and sisters’.”
Ms Guode was released from police custody on Thursday night after being questioned for several hours by homicide squad detectives.
The 35-year-old mother, from South Sudan, arrived in Australia in 2008 a widow with three children.
Here, she and Mr Manyang, the cousin of her late husband Nhial Chabiet, had four children together. However, they do not live together because under Dinka custom Ms Guode is still considered to be married to her deceased husband.
Ms Guode has said she felt dizzy before the crash and only remembers hearing her children’s cries.
“That’s what she said to me. When she was driving, she feel dizzy and then she lose control and then she didn’t remember anything until she fall in the water,” Mr Manyang said.
But the family has not pressed her further on her memory of the incident.
“Due to the situation, how she feel, we didn’t ask her more,” he said.
“What she said is she feel dizzy. When she feel dizzy, then she lost control. … She didn’t remember what was happening until they fall in the water.”
Mr Manyang said he could not fathom his partner deliberately hurting the children.
“She loved too much the kids. She loved the kids. She’d take care of them…she take them to the park and play with them in the park,” he said.
Mr Manyang said rumours were flying around the Australian Sudanese community, but cautioned that it was too soon to lay blame for the crash.
“My message to the community, because there is a lot of talking around, there is untruths, what I can tell them is they have to wait for the report from the police investigation, that will be the truth,” he said.
The car ploughed through 20 metres of scrub before plunging into the lake. Tyre marks at the scene indicate the car was travelling along Manor Lakes Boulevard before driving over a median strip, across another lane and down an embankment into the lake.
Homicide squad detectives, who also interviewed Mr Manyang for more than an hour on Thursday, are continuing to investigate the crash and have appealed to the South Sudanese community to come forward with information.
“We do need to understand what was happening in this family’s life,” Superintendent Stuart Bateson said.
“We need to understand what led to this.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
– with Marissa Calligeros, Allison Worrall, Tammy Mills
This story first appeared in The Age
