A mum who stabbed, strangled and suffocated her three children before burning their bodies in a house fire has been sentenced to life.
Margaret Dale Hawke killed her 10-year-old daughter, seven-year-old son and four-month-old son at their home in July last year.
The 36-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of murder in the family's Port Hedland home and has been given a minimum non-parole period of 25 years by the Supreme Court in Perth, Australia.
Justice Michael Lundberg said Hawke had breached the most fundamental duty of a parent and brutally killed her children.
The court heard Hawke strangled her daughter with an electrical cord and stabbed her eight times in her chest and heart.
She also strangled and stabbed her seven-year-old son and he was found with three stab wounds to his chest and wounds on his neck.
Hawke tried to drown her infant son but failed and instead smothered the child before walking to a beach where she disposed of the knife.
After she returned to the family home where her dead children lay, she lit two fires and walked out into the street as it was engulfed by flames.
A witness described her as "really calm" as she watched it burn.
When witnesses asked if there was anyone inside the property, Hawke replied, "My babies are in there" and she was also heard yelling "My babies, you don't have to suffer anymore".
"I love my babies, I did it to my babies, why, why?" she was heard saying.
Members of the public tried to enter the home and save the children but it was too dangerous.
ABC Australia reports that Hawke almost collapsed in the court dock as she was sentenced.
Lundberg described her reaction as "genuine" and "heartfelt", saying it was impossible to know what was in Hawke's head that could have led her to murder her own children.
She was on drugs at the time of the murder and was also hearing voices in her head.
The court was told she was exposed to violence throughout her childhood, including being assaulted by her parents, who were users of alcohol and drugs.
It heard how Hawke was being pressured by the father of her two oldest children to marry him because he did not want to be deported when he was released from prison.
Justice Lundberg said "tragically" on that day, Hawke had felt she had "no other solution" to her problems.
