Australia - Hannah Baxter, & Laianah, Aaliyah & Trent, set on fire, died, Brisbane, Feb 2020

It's absolutely shocking, horrific. I cannot even imagine what pain the family is going through, or the witnesses on the scene.

A sickening, violent, despicable act. What a terrifying man.

I don't live far from Brisbane, everyone is shocked. And some important conversations are being had about domestic violence here, there are some very old fashioned opinions and some of the comments about how he was a good guy pushed to the edge are just disgusting.
Yes it's quite frightening that someone could hold those views, we've got a serious problem with DV in this country, something has got to change.
 
Yes it's quite frightening that someone could hold those views, we've got a serious problem with DV in this country, something has got to change.

I grew up in England, and there is a quite a significant difference in the way men and women interact here. It was a bit of a culture shock actually. Obviously we have serious DV in the UK too, but there is also a noticeable difference in just general, day to day interactions and attitudes. This is a generalization, of course.
 
Campaigners say domestic violence should be treated like terrorism

Women's Legal Service Queensland CEO Angela Lynch says an immediate review of how domestic violence is dealt with under the criminal justice system is needed.
Coercive control becoming a criminal offence and improvements to strangulation, stalking and sexual violence offences are also among the changes needed, she said.

The list of suggested changes has been issued after Hannah Clarke and her three children were murdered by her estranged husband in suburban Brisbane last week.

Campaigners say domestic violence should be treated like terrorism



RB put a lot of thought into how he'd destroy his family, no different than a terrorist.


 
A new bushfire crisis is emerging as experts brace for an imminent surge in domestic violence


Dr Parkinson also examined how gender norms, particularly stereotypes of masculinity, may have shaped the dynamics of domestic abuse.
Men's feelings of a loss of control or sense of failure to defend and protect their community, for instance, may have triggered complex emotions like inadequacy and shame, which is linked with some men's use of violence.

Other men, she found, seemed to be struggling under the pressure of their own — and the community's — expectations that they, as men, should be able to cope with the trauma, to carry on afterwards unfazed.

One psychologist, she said, told her about a female client who reportedly said "she wanted a man who would protect her in the fires or die attempting to".



New surge in domestic violence cases

For years experts have been studying the links between natural disasters and violence, with evidence suggesting events like earthquakes, hurricanes and bushfires can unmask or exacerbate domestic abuse, particularly against women, as a result of factors like trauma, financial hardship, unemployment and drug and alcohol use.
In Australia, research conducted after Black Saturday in 2009 found there had been a reported increase in domestic abuse in bushfire-affected communities, with some women disclosing the crisis had triggered violence including in male partners who'd never before been abusive.
It comes following reports of an uptick in assaults in NSW, with domestic violence agencies concerned about a lack of crisis accommodation for survivors, particularly in remote areas.

A hidden crisis in the bushfire fallout is about to ramp up

:(
 
Rowan Baxter is a family annihilator. Of all the dark forms that murder can take, the slaying of a family by the father is one of the most tragic and the least understood.

A British study used newspaper archives to analyse 71 cases between 1980 and 2012 as very few of these family annihilators had criminal records or were known to mental health services beforehand. The rate at which this type of crime is being committed has increased within the first decade of the 21st century claiming over half of all the cases studied.

It is overwhelmingly a male crime, usually committed by the husband/father who kills the family unit, not just his wife or one of his children, but every member of the family. 55% of these men were in their thirties and 81% of them attempted suicide after having committed the murders. Family breakup was the most common cause, accounting for 66% of cases, although this included related domestic issues such as access to children. Financial difficulties were the second most commonly cited motive. Gender, age, family breakup, custody issues and financial problems were all present in this case.

In all of these cases masculinity, perceptions of power and a profound need for control sets the background for the crimes. The family role of the father is central to their ideas of masculinity and the murders represent a last ditch attempt to perform a masculine role. By breaking off their relationship, the children’s mother had deprived him of his lover and dethroned him as the head of an intact family. This profoundly undermined his fragile ego and destroyed his sense of manhood.

The killer believes that the spouse is responsible for the destruction of the family unit. The children are killed because the husband blames the wife and kills everything associated with her … first the children go and then the wife—everything associated with the person is considered evil.

They can be driven by rage or revenge: They are controlling and sometimes abusive figures who derive self-worth from the authority they exert at home, but that behaviour typically plunges the marriage into crisis, often prompting the wife and children to try to leave. The resulting lack of control triggers feelings of humiliation, eventually leading the father to reassert his power in a final paroxysm of violence. These men don’t typically exhibit violent behaviour until the loss seems catastrophic. That’s why it usually comes out of nowhere. Hannah didn’t believe she was a victim of domestic violence because he never hit her, and I'm sure many women think this way.

Family annihilators are never spontaneous. The crimes are premeditated and build up over week or months. In the vast majority of these cases, the suspect either commits suicide or confesses.

This is the Australian equivalent of the Chris Watts case. To burn your wife and three beautiful innocent children alive is the absolute epitome of evil to me.
 
Horrific murder/ suicide and the way the Australian press has chosen to cover it calling the perpetrator a sports hero, doting and loving father instead of what he is: suspect of a horrific crime

This is the first I'm hearing of this. Do you have a link?

Our entire country is mourning the deaths of Hannah and her babies with many TV and radio presenters saying it's the worst of its kind. Whoever said it deserves to be called out
 
Rowan Baxter is a family annihilator. Of all the dark forms that murder can take, the slaying of a family by the father is one of the most tragic and the least understood.

A British study used newspaper archives to analyse 71 cases between 1980 and 2012 as very few of these family annihilators had criminal records or were known to mental health services beforehand. The rate at which this type of crime is being committed has increased within the first decade of the 21st century claiming over half of all the cases studied.

It is overwhelmingly a male crime, usually committed by the husband/father who kills the family unit, not just his wife or one of his children, but every member of the family. 55% of these men were in their thirties and 81% of them attempted suicide after having committed the murders. Family breakup was the most common cause, accounting for 66% of cases, although this included related domestic issues such as access to children. Financial difficulties were the second most commonly cited motive. Gender, age, family breakup, custody issues and financial problems were all present in this case.

In all of these cases masculinity, perceptions of power and a profound need for control sets the background for the crimes. The family role of the father is central to their ideas of masculinity and the murders represent a last ditch attempt to perform a masculine role. By breaking off their relationship, the children’s mother had deprived him of his lover and dethroned him as the head of an intact family. This profoundly undermined his fragile ego and destroyed his sense of manhood.

The killer believes that the spouse is responsible for the destruction of the family unit. The children are killed because the husband blames the wife and kills everything associated with her … first the children go and then the wife—everything associated with the person is considered evil.

They can be driven by rage or revenge: They are controlling and sometimes abusive figures who derive self-worth from the authority they exert at home, but that behaviour typically plunges the marriage into crisis, often prompting the wife and children to try to leave. The resulting lack of control triggers feelings of humiliation, eventually leading the father to reassert his power in a final paroxysm of violence. These men don’t typically exhibit violent behaviour until the loss seems catastrophic. That’s why it usually comes out of nowhere. Hannah didn’t believe she was a victim of domestic violence because he never hit her, and I'm sure many women think this way.

Family annihilators are never spontaneous. The crimes are premeditated and build up over week or months. In the vast majority of these cases, the suspect either commits suicide or confesses.

This is the Australian equivalent of the Chris Watts case. To burn your wife and three beautiful innocent children alive is the absolute epitome of evil to me.
bbm
please know I adore your presence on WS JJ:) (such a wealth of knowledge you are!)
I just wanted to highlight a small note of your informative thoughtful post. just hit a nerve with me the vast difference yet same outcome with these two cases.

how incredibly similar yet polar opposite in reasoning of these family annihilations.
one (cw)discarded his like trash holding no emotional value :(
the other (rb) if I cant have you nobody will.:(

moo
 
Hannah Clarke's brother has spoken of his horror at how his sister and her children suffered as they were murdered, while a women's legal service warns there has been an increase in calls from women saying their partners have threatened to kill them the same way.
In an interview with 7.30, her brother, Nathaniel Clarke, said the thing that "cuts me the deepest" is that Baxter made them suffer.
...
Mr Clarke said his brother-in-law's controlling nature was more obvious in the last two or three years.
"He was the type of person that had to win everything, had to be the best at everything, really didn't like when he wasn't," he said.
"He had to control every moment he was in."
"To be one of those people, it does make you selfish, and that was it. It was all about him."

'It was planned and executed': Brother's anguish over Hannah Clarke's suffering

Nathaniel makes a good point, that the system is quite good but it doesn't accommodate people like RB.
 
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'I think he's going to take them all out': Hannah Clarke's friend predicts tragedy

Hannah Clarke's best friend Nikki Brooks said she told police Rowan Baxter would murder his wife.
A week before the horrific scenes in Brisbane's Camp Hill that saw Hannah and her three young children set on fire, Ms Brooks gave a statement to Queensland police.
"I was giving an affidavit to the police to support Hannah's claim that he'd breached a Domestic Violence Order," she told A Current Affair.

Ms Brooks, who has known Hannah for 17 years, admitted she never liked Baxter and when her friend confided in her about his controlling and abusive behaviour, she helped convince Hannah to leave him late last year.
"I've got a lot of guilt and I know that her closest four friends, her closest four girlfriends feel exactly the same way," she said.

'I think he's going to take them all out': Hannah Clarke's friend predicts tragedy
It's sad but true, the friends know, whether they confide in them or not, they know.
 
Manja Whaley, who was a domestic violence worker for 10 years, met Hannah at a gym last year:

'And some of the things that she would explain was this excessive control of Rowan, the sexual abuse daily, and if she didn't have sex with him, he would punish not only her but also the children.'

* Hannah didn't believe she was in a domestic violence relationship because he had never hit her.
* For 10 years she had suffered emotional, sexual and financial abuse.
* He checked her accounts on Facebook.
* He accused her of cheating.
* He would accuse her of being flirtatious if she was had messages with males, even males he knew through the gym.
* He made her wear tights to the gym and wouldn’t let her wear shorts in case she attracted other men.

Mrs Clarke said:
* He was abusive from the start of the relationship when Hannah was just 20.
* He tried to isolate her from friends and family.
* “He was always controlling, ruined her relationship with everyone and even tried to get her away from us.”
* If the parents went down the coast and the family turned up and saw them, they would go to another beach.
* “Everything got worse after she left as he couldn’t control the situation anymore”.
* He portrayed himself as a loving father on social media every night but it was all a façade.

Mr Clarke said:
* He was able to convince everyone he was hard done by and that he was the good guy.
* He was very good at manipulating people into doing what he wanted and could turn on the tears if necessary to make you feel sorry for him.
* He made people think he was a nice guy, then sponged off them and dumped them when he was done with them and moved on.
* He couldn’t stand how Hannah, a champion athlete who won gold medals in trampoline, would outshine him. He was jealous of her sporting success when she beat him in crossfit. RB was the main trainer but Hannah was far more qualified because he “couldn’t pass the tests”.
* He caused a split between her and her brother.
* “He thought he was hard done by and wanted 50% of custody and we knew that couldn’t work, the guy didn’t work, he couldn’t support his own family. It started getting ugly”. [Hannah ended up agreeing that he could have the children 4 days one week and 3 days the next.]

Speaking on the Today show, Ms Whaley, revealed a terrifying comment that RB made to Hannah about a previous relationship with the mother of his first child. WTTE that if his previous partner were to leave him, and with his child, he would take the child and kill himself and kill the child.

Hannah Clarke was abused for 10 years before burned to death | Daily Mail Online

There are no words to describe this monster. When I first heard the news, I thought he murdered them, placed them in the car and then set it alight, but to burn them alive!!!! I remember years ago when ISIS captured a Jordanian pilot, put him in a cage and then burnt him alive. That was one of the most shocking things I'd ever heard, but then CW and now RB came along. Man's inhumanity to man.

Apologies for 2 very long posts.
 
@JudgeJudi, it's just too unbearable to think about, so many people who didn't even know Hannah are affected by this man's brutality. RB has all the signs of an abuser, I think if only, if only Hannah and her beautiful children went into hiding but the reality is, she'd be in trouble for 'kidnapping' the children. RB kidnapped their daughter for four days without permission, he should've been arrested and a tracker placed on him, there MUST be something that can be done!
I feel for women and especially children, who are in this situation, they have no control over what'll happen to them. I worry this will trigger copycats.
 
... while a women's legal service warns there has been an increase in calls from women saying their partners have threatened to kill them the same way.

Many women will be absolutely terrified if they're in a similar situation and read this. You would think those men would understand that if ever there was a time to keep these sort of evil thoughts to themselves it would be now, but they obviously have no intention of even trying to restrain themselves. No-one's going to tell them what to do.

In a series of text messages Hannah told a friend she was excited for the new year and even praised the Police in helping her escape her abusive relationship.

“Things are pretty bad but I’m so glad I took the big step”.
“I have all my babies back together and they can’t be taken again (for a while at least!)”.
“Thank god for amazing police officers going above and beyond”.
“I’ll get there and 2020 will be my year.”

If only, if only ...

Queensland police had received reports of domestic violence within the family over several months and the couple had been referred to support services.

In November, Hannah finally had enough and, with the help of her parents, secretly left RG and went to stay with her parents, taking the children with her.

In December he was reportedly put under a prevention order that stopped him coming within 20m of Hannah. In early January he was served with a domestic violence order by a Brisbane court for the kidnapping.

Hannah’s family have acted with grace and dignity following the tragic deaths of these beautiful little children and their much loved mother. Like the Rzucek family, their lives will never be the same. All murders bring unimaginable grief to the families, but the senseless loss of innocent little children and the shocking manner of death adds a dimension none of us will ever comprehend.

Hannah's family has announced they are launching a 'Small Steps for Hannah' campaign in the hope it will help other domestic violence victims. It will be symbolised by an imprint of Hannah’s foot, the only part of her body that was not burnt. The nurse held up the footprint and said, ‘This is all we could get’.
This is beyond heartbreaking.

Footprint.JPG Photo link (stock image)
 
RG has a 22-year-old son, Isaiah, from a previous relationship and is the child RG admitted threatening to kill if that partner left him. Isaiah said he was also a victim of his father’s domestic abuse and wishes he could take the place of his three murdered half-siblings in an emotional text message to Hannah’s family. He reached out to the grieving family in the wake of the tragedy and offered his heartfelt condolences.

In a message to Hannah’s brother Nathaniel he said, “We shared a similar bond, as we both suffered years of domestic abuse and torment at the hands of Rowan”. Nathaniel appeared shaken up as he read the poignant message to A Current Affair. Isaiah said, “His appalling parenting caused irreversible damage to my mental health. If I could take the place of Laianah, Aaliyah and Trey, I would in a heartbeat”.

He and his father have been estranged for many years.

Read the article to learn what cousins on both sides of RG’s family have to say about him. He was angry and violent and showed signs of cruelty from a young age. One feared he would murder Hannah. A friend thought he was suicidal 3 days before the murders.

Rowan Baxter's son sent Hannah Clarke's family a message saying he was also victim of domestic abuse | Daily Mail Online
 
Hannah’s final hours were marked by pure strength. The kind of strength that comes from deep inside you, that cannot be defeated, not by fire, fumes, smoke or hate. Suffering burns to 97% of her body, she fought to her final heartbeat.

One of her best friends, Lou Farmer, and her husband saw in the hospital room what real strength was in Hannah and also in her family. Mr Farmer’s son asked why RB did it and this was his reply:

“I said because he’s weak. He was very, very upset that Hannah had left, that they’d broken up.” “I said he was unable to control his rage, his emotions, and this is what weak men do.”

The boys knew Row, knew him well, played with him at the gym, and Row is an ex-footy player and both my boys are pretty good rugby league players. And so you can associate Rowan with a physically strong man.

“I said he was that, but that didn’t count so much. He didn’t have the strength and the will to control his emotions and his rage”. That is the point I wanted to make to my sons, that that’s a form of strength you need to have, it’s incredibly important.

“You don’t allow your emotions to manifest itself into physical harm to others.”

NoCookies | The Australian
 
This is the first I'm hearing of this. Do you have a link?

Our entire country is mourning the deaths of Hannah and her babies with many TV and radio presenters saying it's the worst of its kind. Whoever said it deserves to be called out

I will try to find the article, I think it was channel 9
Here are some pearls of wisdom from Queensland police and Bettina Arndt

Queensland police spark anger with 'open mind' comment on murder of Hannah Clarke and children | Crime - Australia | The Guardian

Bettina Arndt's Order of Australia under review over Hannah Clarke comments

We Need To Stop Calling Murderers “Good Blokes”

Rugby star 'killed with wife and 3 children in car fire before stabbing himself'

Domestic violence campaigners slam reports 'glorifying' man who murdered Brisbane family
 

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