Coroner calls for urgent reforms
A CORONER has called for urgent changes to domestic violence policing and training in Queensland in the wake of the horrifying murders of Hannah Clarke and her three children.
Deputy State Coroner Jane Bentley found that while little could have been done to protect Hannah, Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3, from their manipulative killer, immediate action was needed to prevent similar domestic violence homicides.
In handing down her findings from an inquest into the Clarke family murders, the coroner found Queensland Police officers had “inadequate” domestic violence training and there was a significant lack of counselling and support for perpetrators of family violence.
Coroner Bentley said the Queensland government needed to give “immediate attention” to her recommendations, which included bolstering mandatory domestic violence training for all police officers in the state and a more comprehensive five-day course for specialist officers.
Coroner Bentley urged the government to fund a 12month trial of a specialist domestic violence police station in a high-demand area, such as Logan, near Brisbane, or Kirwan in the state’s North.
She also recommended the government provide funding for men’s behaviour change programs in prisons and within the community.
Despite the recommendations, the coroner said it was unlikely anything could have been done to prevent Rowan Baxter murdering Hannah and her children whom he doused in petrol and set on fire before killing himself in a “final act of cowardice” in February 2020.
Ms Bentley said the children likely died almost instantly when their father lit them on fire as they sat in the back seat of the family car at Camp Hill.
She said their “incredibly brave” mother Hannah fought through unsurvivable burns to give a statement to police and beg for her babies to be saved. She died hours later in hospital.
Baxter suffered serious burns in the attack and after escaping the inferno, went back to the car where he seized a knife and used it to stab himself to death.
“Baxter understood the extent of the atrocities he had committed,” the coroner said.
Outside court, Hannah’s parents Sue and Lloyd welcomed the coroner’s recommendations and said they hoped they would eventually be implemented not only in Queensland, but across the country. They said education was crucial and they were pleased that more training had been recommended for police officers. They said the specialist domestic violence police station was a “dream” and could be a “game-changer”.
Sue said she hoped Hannah would be proud of the work they had done with their charity Small Steps 4 Hannah.
Asked about the comments from the coroner that Hannah had been “incredibly brave”, Sue agreed.
“I think he (Baxter) underestimated how much a mother would fight, how strong a mother is,” she said. “He didn’t love the children like she did. He had no idea what a mother would do.”