By Alesha Capone
The Director of Public Prosecutions has been granted leave to appeal the reduced sentence of a woman who drove a car containing four of her children into a Wyndham Vale lake, resulting in the death of three of the youngsters.
The DPP last week released a statement saying that the High Court had granted “special leave” to appeal the reduced sentence handed down to mother Akon Guode by the Court of Appeal.
In 2017, Guode pleaded guilty to one charge of infanticide, two charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder after she drove a car containing four of her children into a lake.
Guode received a sentence of 26 years and six months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 20 years.
However, last year Guode appealed to the Court of Appeal and was re-sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 14 years.
The DPP then filed an application for special leave to appeal the decision to the High Court.
Guode’s four-year-old twins and 16-month-old son died when she drove a car into a Wyndham Vale lake in 2015.
A fourth child, who was aged five at the time, survived after being pulled from the water.
The Court of Appeal accepted that at the time Guode committed the offences, the balance of her mind was “disturbed” after giving birth to her youngest child.
The court also heard that Guode had experienced a difficult life, having watched her husband being murdered in South Sudan before she herself was raped until she was unconscious.
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