WARNING: Distressing content
A medical responder has told an inquest Hannah Clarke’s injuries were “essentially non-survivable”, revealing only 3 per cent of the young mum’s skin was not burned.
First responders have recounted their harrowing discovery after they were called to Camp Hill in east Brisbane where Ms Clarke, her estranged ex-husband Rowan Baxter and their three children perished in a horrendous blaze.
Multiple police, paramedics and fireys took the stand on the second day of the inquest.
Ms Clarke and her children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3, were murdered by Baxter on February 19, 2020, outside her parents’ home in Camp Hill.
Baxter ambushed the car as Ms Clarke was driving her kids to school, dousing the woman and the vehicle in petrol before setting it on fire.
Queensland Ambulance Service medical director Stephen Rashford on Tuesday told the court he found Ms Clarke “incredibly courageous” when he assessed her on the scene.
He said 97 per cent of her body was covered in deep “full thickness” burns.
The court was told the only part of her body that did not suffer significant burns was the bottom of her feet.
Eighty per cent of Baxter’s body was burned.
Dr Rashford revealed he attempted to reassure the “incredibly courageous” Ms Clarke before she was anesthetised.
“We reassured her as much as we could and wanted to say we would take any pain away and hope she would wake up in hospital and be in a better place,” he said.
“That’s always a very difficult conversation to have with anyone.
“In that circumstance, a very important part of our care is reassurance.”
The court was told Baxter showed “significant signposts” of domestic violence that would have concerned police, including suicide threats and custody disputes.
Superintendent Ben Martain, from the Domestic, Family Violence and Vulnerable Persons Command, said all members of the QPS now had to complete an online learning platform centred on coercive control, but it was still difficult to predict homicides in the context of domestic or family violence.
Senior Constable Angus Skaines, one of the officers who responded to the horrific incident, said Ms Clarke “amazingly” recounted what happened for police attending the scene.
She even managed to tell him a domestic violence order was in place between herself and Baxter and he had attempted to break her wrist weeks before.
Constable Skaines said Ms Clarke was “incredibly brave” in describing what happened after Baxter jumped in the passenger seat.
“It was broken up a bit but what she told me was she had just hopped in the car to go into school … she’d just turned the car on and he’d just jumped in the passenger seat,” he told the court.
“He (Baxter) said ‘I wanted to see my children’ and she (Hannah) said ‘No, get out, get out’.
“Rowan’s told her to drive and that he had a jerry can in his hand.”
Firefighter Anthony Eggins gave evidence of seeing flames coming out of every window of the car when he attended the scene that morning.
The court was told it was “blatant and obvious” anyone inside the car was not coming out.
“Having been at the scene, and again with hindsight, there was no help for them (the cxjmtzywhildren),” Mr Eggins said.
The inquest continues.
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