‘Drop the knife’: Neighbours’ chaotic attempts to stop Baxter before he took his life

A deadpan Rowan Baxter ignored desperate attempts by neighbours to get him away from the car before they watched in horror as he stabbed himself in the abdomen.

A deadpan Rowan Baxter tried to stop neighbours extinguishing the ‘high’ and ‘intense’ flames engulfing a car with his three children inside as witnesses today revealed their interactions with him in the moments before he stabbed himself to death.

On the first day of the inquest into the murder of his ex Hannah Clarke and their three children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4 and Trey, 3, residents of a quiet Camp Hill street detailed the chaotic moments after the car exploded into flames with such force it shook their homes and how Baxter produced a knife and plunged it into his abdomen.

Sarah Tranberg said she yelled at Baxter to get away from the flaming car before spotting him kneeling on the ground holding a knife which was about 25cm long.

“I kind of said to him, get away from the car … but he couldn’t hear what I was saying,” Ms Tranberg said.

“I told him to drop the knife, (I said) it’s not worth anything, drop the knife,” she said.

“He didn’t respond.”

Ms Tranberg said Baxter did not look at her.

Rowan Baxter had a deadpan look on his face

“He didn’t really have a look on his face,” she said.

“It was kind of like he couldn’t hear me.”

When firefighters arrived, Ms Tranberg told them: “He stabbed himself and he’s badly burnt.”

Another resident Reece Gourlay said Baxter took a few steps, crouched down and held the knife to his abdomen.

“I immediately then realised that this isn’t somewhere I want to be,” he said.

Mr Gourlay, then a student, was living on Durimbil St at the time of the February 2020 Camp Hill attack and said he was alerted to the incident when he heard a bang.

“So I left the house to see what was the cause of it and that’s when I noticed smoke coming from the corner of the street,” he told an inquest today.

“There was some yelling and screaming. It was hard to make out what it was, whether there were any words or just screaming.”

Hannah Clarke with son Trey.

Mr Gourlay said the screams sounded “distressed” and he saw another neighbour, Kerry Fernandez, running toward the smoke with a fire extinguisher.

“I ran towards that direction following her,” he said.

“It wasn’t until I approached the corner the car came into view.

“It was engulfed in flames.”

Mr Gourlay said he saw a man he now knows to be Rowan Baxter who was a “tall guy” with a “big build”.

“And my initial impression was that he was quite agitated and angry is the vibe I got,” he said.

“It was more the way he was pacing around the car and looking desperate…”.

Mr Gourlay said he called out to Baxter.

“The way he was pacing around the car was making it difficult for my neighbour who was trying to put the fire out,” he said.

“He looked like he was trying to get in the way of that.

“I yelled out to him to get away from the car.”

Mr Gourlay said Baxter ignored everything.

Rowan Baxter ignored the neighbours as they tried to get him away from the car.

He said Baxter looked at him “blankly and walked back to the car, jumping into the front passenger seat.

“It appeared to me … that then prompted my neighbour, she aimed the fire extinguisher into the front of the car,” he said.

He said he thought Baxter might be trying to get something or someone from the car.

Baxter then emerged with a knife, he said.

Mr Gourlay said Baxter took a few steps, crouched down and held the knife to his abdomen.

“I immediately then realised that this isn’t somewhere I want to be,” he said.

He said he ran around the other side of the car to tell his neighbour about the knife.

He said they ran across the street away from Baxter.

CAR EXPLOSION ‘SHOOK MY HOUSE’

Sarah Tranberg was getting ready for work at her Raven St home on the morning of February 19 when she heard a loud noise.

“I heard a bit of a pop or an explosion,” she said.

“It kind of shook my house so I thought the tree had fallen in front of my house. That’s how loud and big it was.

“My dogs were at the front barking like crazy.”

Ms Tranberg said when she went outside, she saw the car engulfed in “high” and “intense” flames.

“There was a lady, Hannah, on the ground next to the car,” she said.

“She was badly burnt and she was making a lot of noise but it was quite far away.”

The car rolled away popping and exploding. Photo: Lyndon Mechielsen

Ms Tranberg said the car began rolling back down the street “popping and exploding in the process”.

She said Hannah was screaming like “someone that’s fully burnt and screaming because they’re hurt”.

Ms Tranberg said she could not see if there was anybody in the burning car.

She agreed that nobody would have been able to get the children out.

“I would say no, because the explosions were so big,” she said.

“There was a radius around the car that was so insanely hot that it was even hard to approach the car.”

She said she could see a severely burnt Baxter standing very close to the car.

“I kind of said to him, get away from the car … but he couldn’t hear what I was saying,” Ms Tranberg said.

She said the burning car started rolling and she ran back to her house to get her dogs inside.

She returned to move her car, which was in the path of Hannah’s car.

Rowan Baxter killed himself next to the car. Photo: Lyndon Mechielsen

Ms Tranberg said after running back to her driveway, she spotted Baxter holding a knife.

She said he was kneeling on the ground holding a knife which appeared to be about 25cm long.

“I told him to drop the knife, (I said) it’s not worth anything, drop the knife,” she said.

“He didn’t respond.”

Ms Tranberg said Baxter did not look at her.

“He didn’t really have a look on his face,” she said.

“It was kind of like he couldn’t hear me.”

When firefighters arrived, Ms Tranberg told them: “He stabbed himself and he’s badly burnt.”

READ THE FULL DETAILS OF DAY ONE OF THE INQUEST