Thaiday left shattered AMY PRICE
Former NRL star had reached out to killer
RUGBY league great Sam Thaiday has been “like a shell” in the wake of the horrific murders of Hannah Clarke and her three children, with his wife revealing he had reached out to Rowan Baxter in the weeks before he killed his young family.
Rachel Thaiday said her husband – who trained at the family’s gym in Brisbane – called her as she was leaving a lunch on Wednesday.
He had just learnt Baxter had killed his estranged wife, Ms Clarke, and their children, Laianah, Aaliyah and Trey, before taking his own life.
Mr Thaiday, 34 – who has two young daughters, Gracie and Ellsie – had recently tried to contact the former rugby league player.
Mrs Thaiday said he “spent a large part of his last year of footy with” Baxter in 2018.
“We are both in shock. Sam’s like a shell,” she said.
“We both lost a friend when we were 21. He took his own life. Sam had reached out to him, just to reach out and see if he’s OK. Sam had done the same (with Baxter) over the last couple of weeks, just reaching out to say ‘Are you OK?’ but hadn’t sort of had any response. I don’t think anyone could foresee that (murder-suicide) happening.”
Thaiday trained at the Baxters’ Integr8 Fitness in his last year with the Broncos, along with fellow former Broncos star Matt Gillett.
On Thursday, Thaiday shared a photo of his wife and daughters on Instagram page, writing “love love love”.
“He’s a father now. It’s hit home for him really hard,” Mrs Thaiday said.
“He just said ‘I just want to see the girls’. That’s all he said all night and just to hug them a little tighter and tell them how much he loves them.”
Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll confirmed police are treating the deaths as murder.
“This is a shocking tragedy which has affected the whole community,” Ms Carroll said.
It comes as a senior Queensland detective has been stood aside over comments he made on the tragedy.
Detective Inspector Mark Thompson was criticised for saying police were keeping an open mind on whether the deaths were a “husband being driven too far by issues” or a woman and children suffering extreme domestic violence.