Hannah Clarke’s harrowing fight over lighter to save her children
Hannah Clarke desperately fought to save her children from their fiery deaths at the hands of Rowan Baxter after he doused them in petrol. WARNING: DISTRESSING DETAILS
Police & Courts
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Hannah Clarke desperately fought to save her children from their fiery deaths at the hands of Rowan Baxter after he doused them in petrol, tearing his shirt in a struggle for the lighter that he used to kill them.
Engulfed in flames Hannah cared only for her children as neighbours hosed her down, screaming “where are my babies, where are my kids” and “I’ve got a DVO I can’t believe he’s done this”.
Heroic neighbours who came to the aid of Hannah, Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4 and Trey, 3, revealed the final movements of the “amazingly strong” mum during the first day of an inquest into their deaths in the Brisbane Coroners Court on Monday.
The eight-day inquest will hear of the “manipulative” Baxter’s preparations to kill his family, including CCTV footage of him purchasing a jerry can he used to douse his wife and children in fuel, and of a phone call in which he told domestic violence workers “I’m not the one who has the problem”.
“Some of this evidence will be hard to hear and it will be hard for people to give,” counsel assisting the coroner Jacoba Brasch QC said.
“The evidence we are going to hear over the next week and a half is yet another tragic example of coercive control and how when a perpetrator is losing control the consequences can be fatal.”
Some witnesses have been so traumatised by the horrific deaths at Camp Hill in February 2020 that they have been excused from giving evidence because the prospect of reliving it was “too much”.
More than 30 witnesses will be called to give evidence, including police, domestic violence support workers, medical staff, friends and family members, including Hannah’s mother Sue, whom Dr Brasch said would give some of the most “poignant and sad” testimony.
“Some of them make observations about Baxter, his appearance his demeanour, his preoccupations,” Dr Brasch said.
“Some witnesses make observations about Hannah’s worries that he might kill her.
“By and large these people speak to a man who was manipulative, confrontational and who was consumed with himself.”
Dr Brasch said CCTV would be played of Baxter walking through Bunnings two days before the murders, perusing mower fuel before purchasing a jerry can which he used in the fatal attack.
Audio of a telephone call Baxter made to a men’s’ helpline the day before will also be played, including the moment he tells the operator “I’m not the one who has the problem”.
“Sixteen hours later he did the unimaginable,” Dr Brasch said.
Raven Street resident Michael Zemek told the inquest he was washing his car on the morning of the attack when he heard a car approaching his front yard “fairly quickly”.
“Then I heard screaming,” Mr Zemek said.
“I heard this quite hysterical scream.”
Mr Zemek said the car pulled up in the gutter of his driveway.
“And Hannah was essentially sort of screaming out ‘call the police, call the police, he’s trying to kill me, he’s poured petrol on me’,” he said.
Mr Zemek said he saw Baxter was in the front seat of the car and had Hannah in a “bear hug” with both arms around her.
“He sort of just had this sort of resigned look,” Mr Zemek said of Baxter.
“As I approached the car, as I approached the window, it just went, it just went bang.
“It was just a bang and a blackness sort of hit my face. I sort of turned my head around briefly … when I came to look up, the whole of the inside front was ablaze.”
Mr Zemek said he could not recall whether he helped Hannah out of the car or whether she got out on her own but when she escaped, she was “head to toe in flames”.
“I just grabbed the hose and tried to get her to roll on the ground so I could try and extinguish the flames,” he said.
After helping Hannah, he said he raced to the other side of the car to find Baxter lying on his side.
“He just seemed like he was out of it. He didn’t seem to be any threat at all at that stage. He was ablaze but not to the same extend as Hannah,” he said.
Mr Zemek said after spraying down Baxter, he returned to help Hannah who told him: “I didn’t save my kids, I couldn’t save my kids”, but he did not realise the children were in the car.
“Hannah was very active … and amazingly strong for what she went through,” he said.
“With my medical knowledge … I was worried she was going to be in strife.”
Samantha Covey gave evidence she was driving her children to swimming lessons when she saw flames and smoke coming from the burning car and she stopped to help.
“I’ve approached (Hannah) and as she stood up I could see that her burns were very significant,” Ms Covey said.
“Her whole body was severely burnt.”
Ms Covey said Hannah’s only concern was for her children, telling her: “I can’t believe he’s done this. I’ve got a DVO I can’t believe he’s done this. Where are my babies, where are my kids. How could he do this? That’s my babies in there.”
“She asked if they had got out,” Ms Covey said.
“After seeing the car I just tried to get her to focus on herself, I need you to breathe, I need you to look at me, stay focused.
“I saw a hose on the ground and I started hosing Hannah down. I tried to talk with her and tried to get her to be calm.”
Ms Covey said when emergency crews arrived, Hannah told them how Baxter had ambushed her as she drove her kids to school, getting in the car with a jerry can and telling her “just drive”.
“She saw someone washing their car, she tried to get them to call police, she wanted someone to help,” Ms Covey said.
“From my memory she said: ‘he (Baxter) dropped the lighter’, ‘I tried to fight him’, ‘I even ripped his shirt, I couldn’t get to him, I couldn’t stop him’.”
Sarah Tranberg was getting ready for work at her Raven Street home on the morning of February 19 when she heard an “explosion” that shook her house, causing her to run outside where she found the horrific scene.
She saw Hannah on the ground while a “severely burnt” Baxter was 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 when she spoke to him.
“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.”
The inquest continues before Coroner Jane Bentley.
Domestic violence helplines
Womensline: 1800 811 811
MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978
National Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence Counselling Service 24hr helpline: 1800 RESPECT
Lifeline: 13 1144
Family Violence Crisis and Support Service: 1800 608 122
Emergency/Police: 000
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