A 36-year-old woman has sobbed while repeatedly banging her head on the dock as details of how she murdered her three young children and then set their house on fire were revealed in the WA Supreme Court.
WARNING: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing.
Margaret Dale Hawke pleaded guilty to killing the children, a 10-year-old girl, and two boys, one aged seven and the other just four months, in the Pilbara town of Port Hedland in July last year.
The court was told the two oldest children had been stabbed and strangled while the baby had been smothered.
Their bodies were found when emergency services attended the family's Anderson Street home which was engulfed in flames.
'I love you, please forgive me'
State prosecutor Justin Whalley SC said witnesses had seen Hawke walking out of the front door of the burning home and described her as appearing "really calm".
Other witnesses said she seemed "really manic" and was walking back and forth.
When the witnesses asked her if anyone was inside the house, she was heard to repeatedly say "my babies".
Other witnesses heard her say "my babies you don't have to suffer anymore" and "I love my babies, I did it to my babies."
Later Hawke told the detectives who interviewed her "I don't know why I did what I did, maybe to stop the pain."
She said before she murdered the children, she told each of them "I love you, please forgive me."
Mother sought help at refuge
Hawke's lawyer Alana Woldan described her client's life as plagued by "dysfunction and difficulties", saying she simply was not coping with the responsibilities of being a mother.
Ms Woldan revealed that the night before the murders, Hawke had gone to a women's refuge in Port Hedland with her children and told staff she needed help.
However, Ms Woldan said Hawke was told the refuge did not have the capacity to care for them and so she and the children returned home.
The court heard Hawke, who had been introduced to drugs and alcohol at an early age, had a perception that she was being intensely judged by people.
Considering herself to be a failure as a mother, she felt deeply distressed and shameful.
Hawke accepts she will receive life term
Mr Whalley said despite the seriousness of the case, the state was not seeking a "never-to-be-released" sentence for Hawke.
He told the court the case was not an appropriate one for such a sentence, although her lawyer accepted her client would receive a life term with a non-parole period set by the judge.
Some family members were in the public gallery for Friday's hearing, while the children's grandmother and Hawke's mother watched proceedings via video link from South Hedland.
The court heard some of Hawke's family members were not willing to have any contact with her and Ms Woldan submitted that her time in custody would be more onerous, because visits to her were "few and far between".
Justice Michael Lundberg said he needed time to consider the case and adjourned the sentencing until next Friday.
Hawke was again remanded in custody, where she has been since her arrest on the day of the murders.
Mr Whalley said the Anderson Street property, where the murders were committed, has been demolished and the site will be turned into a community garden.
