Inquest into estranged husband’s murder of wife and children in Brisbane concludes after eight days of witness accounts of the horror of that day and the aftermath.
Psychologist Vivian Jarrett struggled to explain her assessment of Rowan Baxter,and left the coronial inquest clearly shaken.
The coronial inquest heard Baxter’s call to MensLine the afternoon before he killed his estranged wife and three children.
Ten days before the Clarke family was killed,Rowan Baxter was charged with assault but was given immediate bail.
A police domestic violence liaison officer recounted the more than two months she spoke to Hannah Clarke before her death.
Suzanne Clarke described a series of disturbing incidents involving her daughter’s estranged husband and killer,Rowan Baxter.
It gave a chilling insight into killer Rowan Baxter’s mind and his delusional perception of why his marriage was failing.
Despite her youth,she would fight back and scream at the man who would ultimately burn her,her younger siblings and her mother alive.
Ms Clarke also told a colleague she feared her estranged husband Rowan Baxter was going to kill her.
In addition to telling a police officer at the scene exactly what happened,the Brisbane mother-of-three told an off-duty paramedic:“My babies are in the car ... why didn’t I just stay in the car with them?”
After setting his estranged wife and their children alight in the family’s SUV,Rowan Baxter dove back in to retrieve a knife and fend off a neighbour,inquest is told.