Dizzy as car went into lake

MELBOURNE: The father who lost three children when their mother drove her 4WD into a Melbourne lake says she felt dizzy before the tragedy and the only thing she remembers is her children’s cries.

Family members say the mother of seven wasn’t feeling well when her vehicle plunged into Lake Gladman in Wyndham Vale on Wednesday with her four youngest children on board.

Akon Guode’s daughter, Awel, 5, was pulled out of the water critically injured but Bol, one, his four-year-old sister Anger and her twin brother Maudit, died.

Their father Joseph Manyang visited Awel in hospital yesterday and said she was getting better. Mr Manyang was worried her memory might have been affected so he asked Awel if she recognised him.

“She said, ‘Yes, you are Daddy’,” she said.

Mr Manyang is devastated by the deaths but does not believe Ms Guode deliberately drove into the water. He said she only remembered hearing her children’s cries.

“That’s what she said to me. When she was driving, she felt dizzy and then she lost control and then she didn’t remember anything until she fell in the water,” Mr Manyang said.

He said there were untruths circulating but people should wait for the police investigation to reveal the truth.

“What I believe is she can’t do that (harm the children) ... because she loved the kids,” he said.

Ms Guode, 35, returned to her family late on Thursday night after being held in custody and questioned over the tragedy.

She is understood to be heartbroken and is reportedly staying with an aunt in Morwell in eastern Victoria.