Akon Guode's car in the lake where three of her children died in April 2015. Credit:Pat Scala Guode, a refugee from Sudan, was socially isolated from her community in Melbourne for her relationship with a married man and was a mother of seven in financial strife. In addition, her mental health had been in decline since her youngest child, Bol, was born 16 months earlier in traumatic circumstances. Guode's lawyer, Marcus Dempsey, told the Supreme Court in March his client's situation was "in almost every way ... the anti-Farquharson case", despite the obvious similarities. While Guode pleaded guilty to two counts of murder – over the deaths of four-year-old twins Madit and Hanger – Mr Dempsey told Justice Lex Lasry the infanticide, related to Bol, was at the core of the offending. Guode also pleaded guilty to attempted murder, related to another daughter, who was rescued from the car and survived.

Akon Guode has been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years jail for killing three of her children. Credit:Jason South Infanticide is a rare charge that applies to women who kill their biological child in instances where the mother is affected by a mental-health problem related to childbirth. It applies only to children under two years, which explains the different charges for the siblings' deaths, and carries a maximum jail term of five years. Bol, 1, left, Hanger, 4, centre and her twin brother Madit, right, were killed when their mother's car crashed into the lake. Murder, by contrast, carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Outlining the stresses Guode faced before she killed her children, Mr Dempsey in March quoted a submission made to a 2004 review of the offence of infanticide, put forward by the Federation of Community Legal Centres. Robert Farquharson outside the Supreme Court in 2010. Credit:John Woudstra The federation's position read: "While men kill to control or punish their children or partner, women kill children because they cannot cope with the extreme difficulties that they encounter in trying to care for their children." The Victorian Law Reform Commission, which conducted that review, has described infanticide as "a distinctive kind of human tragedy" which requires a distinctive legal response. Jai, left, Bailey and Tyler Farquharson were killed when their father drove into a creek. Credit:The Age

But the offence also has its critics. Those who want it scrapped say infanticide devalues young lives lost, diminishes the responsibility of mothers to care for their children and is sexist, as there is no equivalent offence for fathers who kill. Akon Guode at the funeral for her three children in 2015. Credit:Chris Hopkins A family member of a Victorian infant killed by her mother likens infanticide to "the flavour of the month, a get out of jail free card", and believes mothers who kill their children must accept responsibility, even if mental-health problems contribute. The woman, who cannot be named, said she and her family were "gutted" when the mother avoided jail, and has repeatedly urged the state government to abolish the offence of infanticide.

"It's as if the children don't count and it's all about the mother," she told Fairfax Media. "Suddenly it's as if that child's life is worth nothing. I think that is so unjust." The woman acknowledged the effects on women of postnatal depression, but could never accept that could justify a mother killing her child. "Post-natal depression can be nasty and all consuming but it should never get to that point, not today. People know too much about it and there is help out there," she said. Professor Thea Brown, from Monash University's department of social work, has conducted several research projects on Australia's child homicide rate, and found mental illness is the most common factor among mothers who kill their own children.

The City of Wyndham accounted for 10 of the 52 recorded child homicides in Victoria between 2000 and 2009, according to Professor Brown's research (Guode's three children died outside that span). That figure made her question whether Guode could have got help addressing her mental health and social stresses had she lived elsewhere. "I can't help but think that it would have been more obvious if she had been at a well-resourced inner-city hospital," Professor Brown said. "And because her culture was so different from many people in Melbourne, people would have avoided her." Guode is believed to be the first woman jailed in Victoria for pleading guilty to infanticide. As part of the sentence of 26 years and six months Justice Lasry imposed on Guode, 12 months was for the infanticide charge.

But in sentencing on Tuesday, Justice Lasry acknowledged the difficulties of cases involving killer mothers with mental-health problems. Before handing down the sentence he said: "The sentence I am about to impose is, in some respects, inadequate to reflect the gravity of what you have done yet at the same time excessive given your mental state as well as your background of hardship and desperation." Mothers who kill Credit:JOE CASTRO Leanne Azzopardi Drowned five-week-old daughter Hayley in the bathtub in 2003. Spared jail by a Supreme Court judge and put on an 18-month community corrections order (CCO).

Beat her baby son after giving birth alone at home in 2004. Spared jail and put on a three-year good behaviour bond. QPX (name suppressed) Inflicted numerous bone fractures on her twin daughters in 2012. One died at eight weeks and the other survived, but suffered serious injuries. Pleaded guilty to infanticide and recklessly causing serious injury. Spared jail and put on a one-year CCO. Loading ZZMM (name suppressed) Smothered her newborn daughter in the moments after she gave birth alone at home in 2014, and left the baby's body under a tree. Spared jail and put on a one-year CCO.

Akon Guode Drove her car into a lake in 2015. Four-year-old twins Hanger and Madit and Bol (16 months) drowned and an older sister survived. Pleaded guilty to two murder charges and single counts of infanticide and attempted murder. Jailed for 12 months on the infanticide charge, as part of an overall sentence of 26 years and six months.