An intimidating hothead, never in the wrong.
A vain and obsessive gym junkie who would put down anyone who beat him.
A bullying husband controlling his wife's every move, including demanding daily sex, dictating her wardrobe and ordering her work schedule.
A paranoid ex who bugged her home, tried to get her sacked from her job and left photos of her in underwear out for their children to see.
WARNING: This story contains content that readers may find distressing.
These were some of the life phases of Rowan Baxter as detailed to an inquest investigating how he was able to murder his estranged wife Hannah Clarke and their three children in an arson attack in Brisbane in 2020.
Deputy State Coroner Jane Bentley made public today a transcript of a police body-worn camera recording of Ms Clarke stoically describing Baxter's attack while she stood dying from her burns just metres from where her children Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four and Trey, three, lay dead in the blazing wreck.
Baxter had jumped in the vehicle and set it on fire, she told police, giving them vital information about the attack just shortly before she is recorded saying: "I really can't stand for much longer".
Hannah Clarke: I really can't stand for much longer.
QAS (Queensland Ambulance Service): We're going to, we're going to get…
QPSS (Police Constable Skaines): Do you want me to grab a seat, or?
QAS: There we go, we're getting that stretcher. Do you want to give him a hand to get that stretcher?
QPSS: Sure. I'll [unintelligible]. There's a few people there already, so. I've got it. [Helps with stretcher] Are you okay?
QPSC (Police cadet): Yeah.
QPSS: Cool.
QPSC: Is there anything I can do more to help?
QPSS: No, it's all right, you're doing great.
[Hannah gets onto Ambulance stretcher]
QAS: My dear, I'm going to have to cut these clothes off.
Hannah Clarke: Oh, okay.
QAS: We're going to give you, are you allergic to morphine?
Hannah Clarke: No. I never had it, though.
QPSS: Hannah, can you go through in as much detail. I know it's very hard. Just tell me from the very start again.
Hannah Clarke: Yeah. We jumped in the car to go to school.
QPSS: Where did you jump in the car at?
Hannah Clarke: [ADDRESS REDACTED] Up the road.
QPSS: Yeah. And then what happened?
Hannah Clarke: And I turned the car on.
QPSS: Yeah.
Hannah Clarke: And then he jumped in the front seat, and I started to scream.
QPSS: Yeah.
Hannah Clarke: And then…
QPSS: Yeah?
Hannah Clarke: … he just told me to drive.
QPSS: Okay.
Hannah Clarke: He said, all I wanted to do was to see my children.
QPSS: Yeah.
Hannah Clarke: And I just said, no, no, get out, get out. And he said, you need to drive. And he had a jerry can …
QPSS: Yeah.
Hannah Clarke: … in his hand.
QPSS: Yeah.
Hannah Clarke: He just told me to drive, so I started driving, and then I saw this gentleman washing his car and I pulled over and said, please call the police, please call the police. And then he just…
QPSS: Sorry, no, go. Yep.
QAS: Hannah, I'm just getting you some pain relief.
Hannah Clarke: … poured petrol everywhere and lit the car alight.
QPSS: Okay. Whereabouts, how far did you drive to get to here?
Hannah Clarke: Like it's just up the road. Sorry.
QAS: No, you're right, you're right, you keep going.
QAS: We're getting IV access.
QPSS: Yeah. No problem. Was he living at your house at the time?
Hannah Clarke: We've got, we've got a, um, we've got a Protection Order.
QPSS: And when was the last time you saw him?
Hannah Clarke: Um, he Facetimed the kids last night. But the last time I saw him in person, maybe a week ago.
QPSS: OK. And has he done anything threatening previously?
Hannah Clarke: Yeah. Um. Not to me, no.
QPSS: No. Has he hurt you previously?
Hannah Clarke: He tried to break my wrist two weeks ago.
QPSS: Okay. Did the police know about that?
Hannah Clarke: Yes.
She died of her injuries shortly afterwards.
An 'alpha male' who trained people until they vomited
Earlier, four witnesses who had close associations with Baxter or Ms Clarke in the lead up to the murders gave evidence to the inquest.
The witnesses who included a pastor, a friend and a former employer of Ms Clarke painted a picture of a man who had been getting away with narcissistic, destructive and bullying behaviour for years.
Brad Clark said he knew Baxter from when he played rugby with him in New Zealand and described him as a "hot head" who was "short tempered and quite aggressive" and got into fights on the field.
Mr Clark noted Baxter's behaviour spiralling out of control and tried to make him get some sort of mental health assistance, even offering to pay for the counselling.
He said he was never sure whether Baxter actually sought any help even though he claimed to have spoken to a psychologist.
Another witness, pastor Christopher Ensbey, said he met Baxter and Ms Clarke when he went to their gym in Brisbane.
He said Baxter liked to train people at the gym until they vomited and always "had to be the alpha male".
Recording conversations, daily sexual demands
In November 2019, Baxter called him and set up a meeting to speak to Mr Ensbey in his capacity as a pastor.
"He [Baxter] walked up and hugged me and cried on my shoulder, which was abnormal for him,'' Mr Ensbey said of the meeting.
He said Baxter told him he was trying to change in order to win Ms Clarke back.
But Mr Ensbey said Baxter did not appear to be genuinely remorseful and was only behaving this way for his own selfish reasons.
Later, Mr Ensbey said Ms Clarke contacted him and confided some of her concerns about Baxter's behaviour.
He said Ms Clarke initially denied any physical abuse but said she felt pressured by controlling behaviour including that Baxter "expected her to have sex every day".
Mr Ensbey said this was the most "significant" issue she had.
The inquest was told by counsel assisting Jacoba Brasch QC that another witness who could not attend in person had detailed how Baxter had left an old iPhone in Ms Clarke's house so he could overhear her talking on the phone.
She said Baxter had heard Ms Clarke call him a narcissist in one of the phone calls.
Lewis Bartlett, a businessman who employed Ms Clarke in his shoe store, described how the bubbly employee was suddenly faced with Baxter stalking her around the shopping centre where she worked, fearing for her life.
Mr Bartlett said Baxter would tell Ms Clarke what to wear to work.
During a conversation about work clothing rules, he said Ms Clarke told him she could never wear shorts because "Rowan won't let me."
'He's going to try and kill me'
He said Ms Clarke told him she was going to leave her estranged husband and was worried.
Mr Bartlett said after the pair separated, Ms Clarke came to work with an arm that was quite red.
"She said Rowan had grabbed her and assaulted her … he had been dropping the kids back … and she saw these photos of herself in her underwear on the back seat of the car and tried to grab them so the kids didn't see them,'' Mr Bartlett told the inquest.
"That's when he grabbed her arm and held her up against the car."
Mr Bartlett revealed that Ms Clarke asked him to help her organise a will.
"If anything happened to her she wanted to make sure the kids were looked after."
'He contemplated abducting her at gunpoint'
Another friend, Martin Coll, who met Baxter and Ms Clarke through the health foods industry in 2014, described how Baxter became obsessed with monitoring Ms Clarke's behaviour when the couple operated their gym business together.
He said at one point Ms Clarke had closed up the gym with a male employee and Baxter became obsessed with the idea there was something going on between the pair – a concern that counsel assisting, Dr Brasch, described as being untrue.
Mr Coll, who did maintenance work around the couple's gym, said Baxter had tried to get hold of CCTV camera footage in the street where the gym was to check on his wife's movements.
He said Baxter had also told him about other relationship problems in New Zealand, including how he had broken up with a woman who he had a child with.
"He [Baxter] had contemplated abducting her at gunpoint and he had rope in the car and was going to take them somewhere and end it all, including himself,'' Mr Coll said.
Mr Coll said Baxter also told him how he had been involved in a road rage incident in New Zealand where he had attacked a cyclist.
He said when he noticed Baxter's obsessive behaviour, he gave him $2,000 specifically to get professional help for his state of mind but he was not sure if Baxter got the counselling.
Mr Coll at one point said Baxter tried to make him hand over his phone because he wanted to see what text messages Ms Clarke had been sending him.
"I said no, I didn't trust him,'' he said.
Mr Coll said he had helped Ms Clarke negotiate with Baxter to return her children after he refused to bring them back one day after they separated.
He said Baxter always complained of the same situation.
"It was always, 'woe is me'. He was the victim and everyone else was wrong,'' he said.
The inquest continues.
