Melbourne mum accused of children's lake deaths refused bail

A mother accused of murdering three of her children by driving her car into a lake wept in a Melbourne court as she begged in vain for bail.

Mother-of-seven Akon Guode, 36, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder over the incident in Wyndham Vale in April.

Guode's one-year-old son Bol and his sister Hanger and her twin brother Madit, both four, were killed.

Guode and her six-year-old daughter Alual were pulled from the water.

She has not entered a plea.

Witness summaries tendered to the court suggested Guode appeared to be screaming as she drove her car at "full bolt" into the lake.

During the hearing, Guode broke down in the dock as she begged to be released.

"Everything that you would tell me to do I would do, and I will not go anywhere," Guode said, sobbing, through an interpreter.

"I need some help so that I can go back home."

Bail was refused. Guode will return to court on June 27 next year for a four-week committal hearing, during which 46 witnesses will be cross examined.