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Car-fire murders: Jealous rugby star 'punished wife' for not having sex, didn't let her wear shorts

The deaths of Hannah Clarke and her three young children, Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3, has left Australia in shock
UPDATED FEB 21, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

A former rugby player who burned his estranged wife and three children alive by setting fire to their car before fatally stabbing himself had been emotionally, sexually, and financially abusive throughout his marriage, a friend has revealed.

Australia has been left reeling over the deaths of Hannah Clarke, 31, Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3, who were killed by former NRL player Rowan Charles Baxter, 42, at a quiet neighborhood in Camphill, Brisbane's southeast, earlier this week.

Baxter had doused wife Clarke's white Kia Sportage with petrol and set it on fire, and while she did manage to escape the flames, she suffered grievous injuries and died at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital less than 24 hours after the horrific incident.

Speaking on the Today show, Clarke's friend from the gym, Manja Whaley, revealed that the mother-of-three had been abused throughout her relationship with Baxter.

Whaley, who was a domestic violence worker for 10 years, said Clarke initially was in denial that she was in an abusive relationship because her husband had never raised her hand at her or been physical with her.

"I then started unpacking with her the emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, and she had experienced all of those," Whaley said. "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."

"She wouldn't be allowed to go to the gym which was not only her passion but her outlet. There was the checking of her accounts on Facebook, the accusations of her cheating if she was having messages with males, even males he knew through the gym, he would accuse her of being flirtatious."

Whaley revealed that Baxter also often commented on and derided his wife's physical appearance and had banned her from wearing shorts to the gym because he didn't want the other men looking at her.

"She would get dressed and she would be picking up her clothes, and he would say things to her like 'look at your stomach, that's just disgusting,'" she said. "She would always come to the gym in tights, and I once asked her about it and, yeah, he didn't like her wearing shorts because she would be promiscuous."

But the most terrifying threat, Whaley said, was when Baxter allegedly told Clarke he threatened his previous partner that he would kill himself and their child if she left him.

"Still something Hannah said stuck to her mind is that he said to his previous partner that if she was to leave him, and with his child, he would take the child and kill himself and kill the child," Whaley shared. "He never followed through, but there are these threats, you know, things that they say. It is just dangerous."

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