Hannah Clarke and her three children were killed by her estranged husband Rowan Baxter. Photo / News Corp
Hannah Clarke and her three children were killed by her estranged husband Rowan Baxter. Photo / News Corp
WARNING: This article contains distressing content.
Hannah Clarke's grieving mother will never forget the moment her life turned into a waking nightmare.
This Friday will mark one year since Hannah, 31, and her three young children were doused in petrol by her Kiwi husband Rowan Baxter, 42, and set alightin a car in Brisbane.
Hannah's parents Lloyd and Sue Clarke spoke with B105's Stav, Abby and Matt programme in Australia this morning to remember their "bubbly" daughter, describing the "surreal" moment they realised their lives had been stolen in the cruellest possible way.
"Because I work just up the road we heard all these sirens, and I was just sitting there like 'wonder what's going on today?'," she said.
She said one of the people at her work mentioned that three kids had been burnt to death in a car at Camp Hill after seeing the news on Facebook around 10am.
"I felt sick and I was like 'no, because they'd be at school now', so I rang Hannah, no answer, and I thought 'she'd be in the middle of a gym class so that's okay, I sent her a message."
Hannah Clarke and her three children were killed by her estranged husband Rowan Baxter. Photo / News Corp
But a later Facebook update mentioned the incident had happened at Raven St, which was where Hannah had been living with her parents.
"And then I just knew, I knew straight away," Sue Clarke said.
"And as I looked up, two police detectives walked in. That confirmed it before they said anything. So it was pretty horrific."
Hannah had realised she was in danger and had moved in with her parents along with her children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3, in late 2019. Their belongings had been quickly thrown into three garbage bags one day while her husband was at work.
But Baxter ambushed the young family during the school run on February 19, jumping into the car, dousing them in petrol and setting them alight before stabbing himself to death.
The children died at the scene while Hannah – with burns to 97 per cent of her body – screamed for help and later gave police one final statement before she died of her injuries in hospital later that day.
Clarke said Hannah didn't know her husband was dead at that stage and she believed her daughter wanted to make sure he would pay for what he did.
"Though she had burns to 97 per cent of her body, Hannah still managed to give police a clear and articulate statement," Clarke told Marie Claire last year.
"She pushed herself to repeat it; the police were in awe. It was truly to make him pay – she was going to fight for her babies to the end."
Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3, were killed by their father. Photo / News Corp
The Clarkes have started the Small Steps 4 Hannah Foundation to educate the community about coercive control and to push for changes to legislation.
They say Hannah was unsure whether her husband's behaviour could be considered domestic violence as he hadn't physically abused her.
Lloyd Clarke said Baxter seemed like a nice bloke to begin with.
"It was so different to start with," he said.
"He seemed like a general, nice sort of bloke, and he obviously got into our heads, smoothed us over and then as the years went on, it just gradually got different."
During the latter part of the marriage, Baxter's controlling personality came out.
"(He) always had to win at anything and everything, always had to be the one to come out on top," Clarke said.
Sue Clarke said her daughter told her about what was going on but confronting Baxter would often make things worse.
"On the rare occasion when I did say something, she would ring me in tears and I would have to grovel and apologise to make everything okay," Clarke said.
"So we did know but our hands were tied."
Baxter would also do things like stop the kids from coming over as punishment.
"And if Hannah said something wrong, he would punish Hannah through punishing me," she said.
Lloyd and Sue Clarke want coercive control laws introduced in Australia. Photo / News Corp
The Clarkes are now pushing for coercive control laws – which already exist in the UK – to be introduced in Australia. They believe the laws may have prevented the tragedy and public awareness of the behaviour could have helped them identify the warning signs.
The Clarkes told The Guardian's Full Story podcast that Baxter exhibited 17 of the 25 types of coercive control, including isolating Hannah from loved ones, stalking her, preventing her from visiting the doctor, subjecting her to daily rape, destroying the family's belongings and restricting access to vital needs like sleep and food.
Queensland Attorney-General and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Shannon Fentiman, has told the ABC that coercive control laws were a priority and would be made a crime in the state within the next four years.
NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Northern Territory are also considering the issue but no laws have yet been passed except for in Tasmania, which made laws in 2004 against behaviours such as intimidation, economic and emotional abuse.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - DO YOU NEED HELP?
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you're in danger now:
• Phone the police on 111 or ask neighbours of friends to ring for you.
• Run outside and head for where there are other people.
• Scream for help so that your neighbours can hear you.
