Good blokes don't kill
Some crimes are so incomprehensibly evil that they can traumatise an entire nation. The horrific murder of Hannah Clarke and her children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4 and Trey, 3, will haunt Australians for years.
Some crimes are so incomprehensibly evil that they can traumatise an entire nation. The horrific murder of Hannah Clarke and her children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4 and Trey, 3, will haunt Australians for years.
Three beautiful children and their mum were burnt alive by a cowardly monster who spared himself the same torturous death.
Rowan Baxter killed himself with a knife after dousing his family with petrol and setting them alight in the family car.
He then screamed at those in the suburban Brisbane street who rushed to help, upset that they were trying to put out the flames.
It is impossible to understand the depravity, cruelty and callousness that would see a man plan and execute such an unfathomable act of savagery.
Hannah was pulled out of the burning car by locals and was conscious as they rendered assistance. She told them “he’s poured petrol on me” as they tried in vain to save her life.
Witnesses describe “her skin peeling off” as she screamed for her children. Hannah died at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital on Wednesday evening.
It may be wrong to write this but perhaps she didn’t want to survive. One cannot fathom how a mother could cope with the loss of her children in such dreadful circumstances.
Olga Edwards couldn’t live with the unimaginable grief.
The heartbroken Sydney mother took her own life five months after her children, 15-year-old Jack and his 13-year-old Jennifer, were shot dead by their estranged father John Edwards who then killed himself.
In the past there’s been a level of sympathy for family annihilators but that is only a final insult to their victims.
Family annihilators are gutless monsters and should be remembered as such. You are not absolved of murder because you kill yourself.
The coverage of the Camp Hill massacre has been markedly different from some previous cases; there has been no attempt to whitewash what happened or paint the murderer as a tragic victim driven to an unthinkable crime. The Courier-Mail front page featured pictures of the victims, not their killer, and asked “how could he” while The Daily Telegraph’s front-page headline was “You Low Mongrel”. The West Australian’s front page simply read “Pure Evil”.
But still some in the community want to apportion blame elsewhere or rationalise the brutality. To them society is to blame or the family court system or mental health issues.