CAR FIRE HORROR

A FATHER has burned his three children and estranged wife to death and stabbed himself in a horrific murder suicide in suburban Brisbane yesterday.

Mother Hannah Baxter died in hospital from her injuries last night, after managing to escape from her car that her husband Rowan Baxter set alight.

She was heard screaming “he’s poured petrol on me” as she leapt from the burning car in which her three children died.

Traumatised witnesses reported seeing skin peeling away from her body while she was conscious.

Ms Baxter was in her car with her children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4 and Trey, 3, driving them to school when her estranged husband — a former

New Zealand footballer — jumped in the passenger seat.

She made it around the corner before she was heard screaming and the car exploded. The children died at the scene.

Ms Baxter jumped screaming from her white SUV, her clothing aflame.

The 42-year-old Mr Baxter now in the passenger seat, took out a knife and plunged it into his chest. Aaron Snell lives metres from where the tragedy happened.

“As I came to the front after calling triple-0, I saw her (Hannah). She was smoking, her body was smoking and on fire,” he said.

“They’d pulled her out and they were hosing her down on the road, trying to put the flames out. And he (Rowan) was across the road.”

The ex-footballer was aggressive, Mr Snell said, and he didn’t know how he could safely help the victims.

“And then he jumped into the full flaming car, into the front seat to grab a knife,” he said.

“He stabbed himself in the chest.”

Neighbours ran with fire extinguishers.

They tried to put the flames out and reached for

the children. One man was burned in his efforts and was taken to hospital.

Witness Andrew Sinclair, who was working from home about 100m away from the incident, said the look on Ms Baxter’s face will stay with him for a very long time.

“She was looking directly at me, just staring,” Mr Sinclair said.

“The look of hurt looking straight at me, and seeing her clothing being burnt with her skin coming off her body, it was an awful thing to see. “She was upright, standing with her hands spread open to let the water take its full effect.

“A very kind lady was hosing her down, I don’t know who she is but it was a great act of kindness, and that woman is a champion of our neighbourhood for doing that while being confronted with everything.”

It is understood police were called to a family violence incident in January and the couple were involved in a custody battle, although no formal proceedings has been lodged with the Family Court.

The family had lived in a lowset brick home at Carindale where Mr Baxter, a onetime NRL player from New Zealand, and his wife ran a Crossfit gym. If you or someone you know needs help, call LIFELINE 13 11 14