A father who murdered his estranged wife and three young children breached a domestic violence order weeks before he committed quadruple murder-suicide.
Rowan Baxter was due to face court again on April 8 after a magistrate ruled he was free to walk free in the community during his initial hearing for breaching the order on January 29.
On Wednesday morning, Baxter torched his family car while his three children, six-year-old Aaliyah, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, were trapped in the back seat at Camp Hill in Brisbane’s east.
Queensland Police were previously called to a family violence incident that involved the couple just last month.
Hannah Baxter was desperate to save her babies even when covered in flames with her skin melting off
Aaliyah (left), six, Laianah (right), four, and Trey (centre), three, were killed in a quadruple murder-suicide on Wednesday morning when their father set their car alight on their way to school
Burned-out wreck: Rowan Charles Baxter, 42, and his three children, Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, all died when the family’s white SUV was set alight at Camp Hill
Pictured: Baxter alongside one of his daughters all smiles as they flex their muscles
Ms Clarke made the decision to separate with Baxter in December, and quietly moved her children out of the family home and in with her parents in Raven Street, in Brisbane’s Camp Hill.
Baxter was occasionally allowed to see the children on weekends, but there was always tension and even one assault on drop offs and pickups.
‘He kidnapped (one of the kids) on Boxing Day and took her interstate for four days until the police got her back,’ Ms Clarke’s mother told Daily Mail Australia.
Ms Clarke told a friend of the incident in a text message, saying she’d taken out a domestic violence order against her husband.
All three of the Baxter/Clarke children died while strapped inside a burning car
Left: Hannah Clarke pictured with her ‘main man’, son Trey in a beach snap. Right: Mrs Baxter on her wedding day with her husband
Inferno family: Hannah Clarke and Rowan Baxter, with their three children (from left to right) Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey
Rowan Baxter posing for a photograph in 2005 in New Zealand when he played a trial match for the Presidents Cup Warriors squad
Detective Inspector Mark Thompson said both Ms Clarke and her estranged husband had been referred to support services in the lead-up to their deaths.
‘When it comes to Hannah, we have dealt with her on a number of occasions, we have actively worked with the Brisbane Domestic Violence Centre in supporting Hannah throughout her family issues,’ he said.
Ms Clarke’s father said Baxter was ‘under orders’ to remain at least 20 metres away from her.
‘We still don’t know how he got so close,’ he said. ‘He’s obviously ambushed her somehow, I’m sure she would not have stopped for him, she would be more likely to try to run over him.’
Baxter flooded his Facebook site with photos and videos of his children, describing them as ‘my world’
One of Hannah Clarke’s friends doubled over in pain as she visited the scene of the murder in Brisbane. She cried at the memorial which has been building up since Wednesday
‘He was going through her phone and tracking her whereabouts. It was really scary,’ Ms Clarke’s mother added.
‘He thought he was hard done by and wanted 50 per cent of custody and we knew that couldn’t work, the guy didn’t work, he couldn’t support his own family. It started getting ugly.’
Three weeks ago – the last time the children stayed with Baxter at the former family home 3km away – he and Hannah got into an argument as he dropped them off.
The Clarke’s said Baxter assaulted Hannah in their front yard by grabbing her by the wrist and twisting her arm behind her back, hurting her shoulder.
He was charged with assault.
Hannah Clarke died just hours after her babies were doused in petrol and burned alive by her estranged husband Rowan
Police attend the scene of a car fire which claimed the lives of an entire family of five
She stood back up and sought comfort in another woman, reaching out to embrace her with tears streaming down her face
The couple were together 11 years before the separation, but Ms Clarke’s brother Nat confessed her family were desperate to get her to leave.
‘My mum and dad… have given every little thing they own to help my sister try and get away from this monster,’ he wrote on Facebook.
‘Yesterday I had my sister, nephew and two nieces taken from me in the worst way possible by a heartless monster they called their dad.’
He added: ‘Everyone who has been lucky enough to be a part of their lives would know just how sweet and loving these kids and my sister really were.’
Hannah with her mother Suzanne Clarke. Mrs Clarke and her husband Lloyd said they have struggled for months to keep the killer father away from his estranged wife and children who was stalking them and even kidnapped one of the kids
The Baxter children Laianah, four, and Aaliyah, six holding Trey, three
Right before she died, Ms Clarke expressed her excitement for the year ahead.
She was going about her morning and had just strapped her kids into their child seats in the back of the car when Baxter dived in and doused them all with petrol.
He set the car alight, but both he and Ms Clarke managed to free themselves.
Ms Clarke repeatedly screamed for someone to save her babies – even as her skin was melting off her body from the flames – while Baxter tried his hardest to stop any bystanders from helping his children.
Once he realised they weren’t escaping the car alive, he stabbed himself in the chest.
Mr Clarke’s wife Stacey also slammed Baxter in the wake of the savage murder-suicide, calling him a ‘monster’. She shared this photo of Hannah Baxter with her children
The shocking murder-suicide that has left Australia reeling unfolded just metres from the home of Ms Clarke’s parents on Raven Street, Camp Hill, as she drove her children to school