Jimmy Bartel has lashed out at a sick Internet troll who compared the footy star’s marriage breakdown to the disgraceful actions of killer dad Rowan Baxter.
On Friday, the retired AFL player, 36, shared a post to Instagram in which he labelled Baxter a ‘coward’ for murdering his estranged wife and three children in Brisbane on Wednesday.
His post caught the attention of a troll who bizarrely suggested that the quadruple murder suicide was the ’emotional equivalent’ of Jimmy leaving his wife, Nadia, for another woman, Lauren Mand, last year.
In response, Jimmy shared the vile comment with his 126,000 followers and wrote: ‘A marriage breakdown is NOT murdering your wife and kids!’
Jimmy Bartel and his girlfriend Lauren Mand have shamed a vile Internet troll who compared his marriage breakdown to the actions of killer dad Rowan Baxter. Pictured with Lauren Mand
‘Tearing down people trying to highlight a major issue in this country is not the way forward,’ Jimmy added.
Lauren, who began dating the Geelong Cats legend following his marriage split, re-posted Jimmy’s comment, adding that she ‘agreed’.
Jimmy, who is a longtime advocate for domestic violence victims, had said in his original post that Baxter should ‘rot in hell’.
‘I hope you rot in hell’: On Friday, Jimmy shared a post to Instagram in which he labelled Baxter a ‘coward’ for murdering his estranged wife and three children in Brisbane on Wednesday
Shocking: Jimmy’s post caught the attention of a troll who bizarrely suggested that the quadruple murder suicide was the ’emotional equivalent’ of Jimmy leaving his wife, Nadia, for another woman, Lauren Mand, last year. In response, Jimmy shared the vile comment with his 126,000 followers and wrote, ‘A marriage breakdown is NOT murdering your wife and kids!’
‘To do what you did is pure cowardice, weakness and a blatant disregard for your family’s life,’ he wrote.
‘Again another woman and her family die at the hands of DV [domestic violence] in this country, this should never happen.
‘Our system once again, has failed Hannah and her children.’
Hannah Clarke and her three children were torched in their car on Wednesday morning by Baxter, who stabbed himself to death at the scene in Camp Hill, Brisbane.
Pure evil: Hannah Clarke and her three children were torched in their car on Wednesday morning by Baxter, who stabbed himself to death at the scene in Camp Hill, Brisbane
On Friday morning, her friend Manja Whaley, who met Ms Clarke at a gym last year, revealed the mother-of-three had been abused throughout her relationship.
Speaking on the Today show, Ms Whaley also said that Baxter had once admitted threatening to kill his eldest child from a previous relationship.
He also threatened to harm Ms Clarke’s children if she refused to have sex with him and wouldn’t let her wear shorts to the gym in case she attracted other men.
Outspoken: Jimmy – whose split from Nadia, the mother of his two children, was made public on August 15 – has long been open about his family’s experience of domestic violence
Jimmy – whose split from Nadia, the mother of his two children, was made public on August 15 – has long been open about his family’s experience of domestic violence.
In 2016, he told the Herald Sun that his mother, Dianne, had been a victim of domestic violence at the hands of his late father, Terry.
‘I remember mum being on the floor in the hallway; he had repeatedly hit her, and she was trying to crawl away from him,’ Jimmy said.
‘I remember Olivia [his eldest sister] trying to push him away from mum, and he physically threw her against the wall, like a rag doll, which is hard to comprehend.
‘I tried to get in between him and mum, and I was the next to get thrown, into an old-fashioned bureau. He belted mum one more time before he left. That was a major turning point in my life.’
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