‘Will haunt me’: Hannah Clarke’s father reveals her final act

Hannah Clarke’s father has revealed his daughter made a final phone call before she succumbed to injuries sustained from her ex-husband’s attack.

Hannah Clarke’s father has spoken of his daughter’s final moments after she was attacked by her ex-husband, saying it continues to “haunt” him to this day.

Ms Clark, 31, and her children Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, were killed after her estranged ex-husband Rowan Baxter ambushed the young family on their way to school in February 2020.

Baxter doused the family car in petrol and set it alight before dying from a self-inflicted stab wound.

Recalling his daughter’s final moments, Ms Clarke’s father, Lloyd, said Ms Clarke called him on the phone before she succumbed to her injuries.

“It’s a call that will haunt me until the day I see her again,” he wrote in a piece for The Australianon Tuesday.

“When I answered, there was no one on the other end, and I assumed that it was a pocket dial or one of her kids playing with her phone.”

Lloyd Clarke (pictured with his wife and Hannah Clarke’s mother, Sue) said his daughter called him before she died. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

Hannah Clarke and her children (L-R) Laianah, Aaliyah and Trey were killed on their way to school in February 2020. Picture: Facebook

“A couple of hours later, the police came to tell me that my grandchildren, Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey, had been awfully murdered by the person who was supposed to love and protect them.

“Hannah had survived his cowardly attack, but would succumb to her injuries later that day. Her last act of resistance was to reach out for her dad. But she couldn’t talk to me.”

Mr Clarke said the “desperate” phone call was metaphor for what victims of coercive control experience.

“Coercive control is about taking away the person’s voice, and ultimately their identity,” he wrote.

“That’s how control is truly exerted.”

Mr Clarke said, in his daughter’s case, there were “too many” red flags.

“Coercive control included dictating what she could wear, who she could spend time with, her social media accounts, tapping her phone, tracking her car,” he said.

“Her killer threatened self-harm if she didn’t give in to his demands. He asked friends to spy on her. He isolated her from our family. He snatched Laianah and took her out of the state.

“None of these actions in isolation could reasonably be considered a sign of impending murder. But when they are viewed as a concerted pattern of behaviour, the warning is very clear.”

Hannah Clarke’s “last act of resistance” was to call her father. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Clarke said there were “too many” red flags of coercive control. Picture: Facebook

Mr Clarke who set up the Small Steps 4 Hannah Foundation with his wife, called on the rest of Australia to join states that have already taken steps towards enacting coercive control laws.

“Sue and I congratulate the NSW and Queensland parliaments for acting on the issue (and of course Tasmania for being in front already),” he wrote.

“We urge the other states and territories to come on board, especially those that believe they don’t need coercive control laws. This is not a problem that is confined to state boundaries. Sadly, it’s rampant across our nation.”

In October, long-awaited laws to criminalise coercive control as stand-alone criminal offence were introduced to the Queensland parliament — meaning the offence carries a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.

Mr Clarke said this was “a good start” on the issue.

“We’re so grateful that they’re actually going to make coercive control law, it’s something we’ve been pushing for,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Clark’s wife Sue said she’d “like to think” the proposed legislation was a fitting tribute to her loved ones.

“People would have believed her, validated what she said (the laws existed then),” she said.

NSW was the first Australian state to legislate a stand-alone offence of coercive control in 2022.

The law will take effect from July 2024 and carry a maximum penalty of seven years.