Eyewitness reveals moment Rowan Baxter torched his children, wife and stabbed himself to death

An eyewitness has revealed what happened in the moment of pure evil and cowardice when monster father Rowan Baxter burnt his three tiny children alive in a quiet Camp Hill street.

ROWAN Baxter jumped into his wife’s car and set it on fire as she drove their children to school before stabbing himself to death, it can be revealed.

A shocked neighbour told The Courier-Mail that Mr Baxter survived the fire, but dropped dead at the scene after he stabbed himself in the torso.

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Rowan Baxter killed his three children by setting them on fire as they sat in a car metres from his wife’s parents’ home. His wife Hannah Baxter is fighting for life in hospital.

Aaron Snell, who lives just metres from where the car burst into flames, was getting ready for what he thought would be just any other day when he was confronted with the traumatic scene.

He said he first thought the incident was a road rage hit and run before he took a few seconds to understand the magnitude of the situation.

“As I came to the front after calling Triple 0, I saw her (Hannah). She was smoking, her body was smoking and on fire,” Mr Snell said.

Rowan Baxter with kids Laianah, Aaliyah and Trey. Picture: Facebook

“They’d pulled her out and they were hosing her down on the road, trying to put the flames out.

“And he (Rowan) was across the road.”

Mr Snell has a medical background and had been previously trained on how to perform CPR in high pressure situations.

He said when he saw Mr Baxter he was uneasy on whether to act.

“I’m trying to suss out the situation whether I could do CPR or not and he was just in all matter of states,” Mr Snell said.

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“And then he jumped into the full flaming car, into the front seat to grab a knife. He stabbed himself in the chest.

“That’s when he’s dropped to his knees and went down head first, then he jumped up again, and then he fell flat.”

According to Mr Snell, nearby neighbours had used a fire extinguisher to attempt to put the car out and gain access to the kids trapped inside the inferno.

Mr Snell said this act of heroism was met with extreme anger from Mr Baxter, who appeared as if he “wanted it to burn.”

“He was protesting to stop putting it out,” he said.

“He was so angry and just going absolutely crazy. It appeared like he wanted it to burn.”

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Mrs Baxter remains in hospital in a critical condition with “significant burns”, police said.

The estranged couple’s three children – Laianah, 6, Aaliyah, 4, and Trey, 3 – died in the blaze.