Detective didn’t deserve to be thrown to social media jackals
We don’t want the appalling rate of domestic violence to continue but we must not succumb to the pressure of the cyber-lynch mob and destroy the foundation of our legal system, writes Piers Akerman.
Opinion
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An absolutely horrendous crime was committed in Queensland this week, the details so horrific that I don’t wish to dwell on them.
However, it is a fact that, in an inconceivable act of violence, Rowan Baxter ambushed his estranged wife, Hannah Clarke as she was driving the couple’s daughters, Aaliyah, 6, and Laianah, 4, and son, Trey, 3, to school and doused them with petrol and set them alight.
Shortly after her death, there was a bizarre twist. Detective Inspector Mark Thompson, who was subjected to a merciless attack by keyboard warriors on the anti-social media and by campaigners against domestic violence, felt that he had to stand aside from his investigation to protect the reputation of the Queensland Police. This is not to equate the two crimes but to consider where our society is heading.
We don’t want the appalling rate of domestic violence to continue to rise but we must not succumb to the pressure of the cyber-lynch mob and destroy the very foundation of our legal system that there is a process for investigation and discovery and the proving of guilt or innocence.
In this instance, it would seem that at least one AVO had been taken out against Baxter but that he had breached it. Inspector Thompson was diligently and thoroughly doing his policing job when he stood aside voluntarily from the investigation after comments – taken totally out of context — caused outrage in the Twitterverse and in some media outlets. Indeed, the family of murdered mum Hannah Clarke said they were “in no way offended” by them and asked Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll to contact Inspector Thompson on their behalf.
When Commissioner Carroll said she had asked Inspector Thompson to stand down she joined the pile-on.
I am indebted to Kate Kyriacou, crime and courts editor, of The Courier-Mail for providing a record of what Inspector Thompson said at a news conference. You make up your own mind.
“Information that’s at hand has led us to believe that the Baxter children and Hannah Clarke were killed, and I don’t believe at this stage there are any suspicious circumstances around the death of Rowan Baxter.”
He could not say, as the social media might wish, “the bastard did it and we needn’t investigate further”, because that’s not how our law works – at least not yet.
“We need to look at every piece of information,” Insp Thompson said, and surely that’s what we employ the police to do.
“And to put it bluntly, there are probably people out there in the community that are deciding which side, so to speak, to take in this investigation. Is this an issue of a woman suffering significant domestic violence and her and her children perishing at the hands of her husband?
“Or is this an instance of a husband being driven too far by issues that he’s suffered by certain circumstances into committing acts of this form. Because of that, that’s why I want people to come and speak to us. If we are going to build a complete picture, keep an open mind as to what’s occurred, then we need to speak to everyone and compile that complete picture as to what’s occurred.”
The crime reporter noted that the detective went on to say: “There is no excuse for perpetration of violence in our community.
“There is certainly no excuse for perpetration of violence among families behind closed doors.” And when asked to clarify his earlier comments, about whether he was actually suggesting a man who’d murdered his family had been “driven too far”, Ms Kyriacou said he shook his head emphatically.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I am not leaning towards that at all.
“What I was trying to illustrate by my comments were, you do see, both in public commentary and in general responses from the community that people will make those allegations.
“Maybe they are scorned members of the community themselves that have had dealings with domestic violence in the past, and that’s the sort of thing they say in response to an incident like this.
“I am certainly not saying that the Queensland police service are taking any view in relation to that at all.
“We are not doing that. We are keeping an open mind and doing an open investigation, which is exactly what we are to do and we are under direction from the State Coroner to do that. What I was trying to illustrate was that, if there are people out there making the comments, such as what I’ve just described, then please come forward and substantiate those claims. Help us with the information we need to build that picture for the coroner.”
This is not a man who erred, this is a professional who should be recognised as such and not thrown to the social media jackals.