Mum-of-three Hannah Clarke sent desperate text messages to friends as she battled to keep her abusive husband away from her after her domestic violence protection order was watered down.
Her pleas for help emerged as domestic violence campaigners call for more to be done to protect vulnerable families
The Brisbane mum, 31, was murdered along with her three children after being burned alive by her estranged husband, Rowan Charles Baxter.
In a horrific crime which rocked Australia, Baxter killed his family on Wednesday morning before stabbing himself to death in the chest.
Hannah Clarke and her three children were torched in their car on Wednesday morning by Rowan Baxter (all pictured together) who stabbed himself to death at the scene in Camp Hill
In a text to friends sent on January 30 (pictured), Hannah expressed concerns about changes to the domestic violence protection order out on her estranged husband
It has since emerged that he subject Hannah to years of domestic violence, prompting the brave mum to finally leave him last November.
There was a domestic violence order (DVO) in place, but she expressed frustration that the conditions wouldn’t be enough to keep her family safe.
Hannah Clarke (pictured) with her ‘main man’, her son Trey, in a beach snap
Despite being stalked every day by her monstrous ex, the DVO was watered down to allow her husband to be a close as 100 metres from her.
Just days later, Baxter would approach the family car on the school run, cover his wife and children in petrol and set them alight.
‘I have to go back to court and had to drop off an application today to get the DVO conditions changed as he keeps turning up where I am,’ the mother-of-three said in text message to a friend, sent on January 30.
‘He got the DVO adjourned and when they did that they took off the no contact and made it just 100m from my home so technically he’s not doing anything wrong … hence why we need it changed!’
Baxter’s horrified cousin Sandra Taylor (pictured) said the killer had a deep hatred of women
On Thursday morning dozens of family and friends visited the scene of the tragedy to pay tribute to the family (pictured)
The friend told the Daily Telegraph Hannah had feared what her husband would do, particularly after he kidnapped their daughter Laianah on Boxing Day.
Lainah, 4, would later be murdered by her father alongside her older sister Aaliyah, 6, and little brother Trey, 3.
Their suffering has prompted calls from across Australia for greater protection for victims of domestic violence.
Even the female police officer who helped Hannah lodge her DVO last year said it would do little to protect her from her evil husband.
The killer (pictured, centre right) flooded his social media with pictures of his three children, giving the impression of a doting father
Hannah Clarke (pictured, left) with Baxter (right) on their wedding day
Police have confirmed they had attended several domestic violence incidents involving Baxter, and he was due in court in April after breaching an order last month.
On Saturday, his cousin Sandra Taylor became the first member of the evil killer’s family to speak out about his crime.
She said the killer dad had a pathological hatred of women, believing their only purpose was cleaning and sex.
Ms Taylor said she had feared for her own life due to his dark history of violence.
After she reached out to help his estranged wife, Baxter even began to stalk her too, leaving dog faeces outside her front door.
‘Rowan believed that women are two things – to be a house cleaner, and to be a prostitute,’ his cousin Ms Taylor told Nine News.
The shocking murder-suicide that has left Australia reeling unfolded just metres from the home of Ms Clarke’s parents on Raven Street, Camp Hill, as she drove her children to school
Hannah Clarke (pictured with daughters Aaliyah and Laianah) made a final emotional post on Instagram after breaking free from her abusive husband
Ms Taylor was estranged from her evil cousin, but reached out to Hannah when she left the monster last November.
She told Daily Mail Australia Baxter had a string of mistresses and was texting ‘hundreds’ of women while he was married to the wife.
‘Rowan was a man with a dangerous sense of possession and entitlement over his wife and children, particularly in the last three months, that I was concerned for,’ she said.
Hannah Clarke (pictured with her three children, aliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3) died of her injuries on Wednesday
‘This was a man with a level of hatred and disrespect for their mother so great that he would make this choice – the most horrifying and despicable of choices.’
Ms Taylor is Baxter’s first cousin on his mother’s side.
‘We were at a family barbecue and he was at the grill and I walked over to him and he was sending hundreds of texts to other women,’ she said.
‘I know Hannah believed she wasn’t the only one.’
She also believes that Baxter had several affairs during his first marriage.
The family’s car (pictured) is removed from the scene in Camp Hill, Brisbane, after Hannah Clarke and her three children were set alight inside