The cousin of loathed killer Rowan Baxter says he was an angry and violent child who showed signs of cruelty from a young age.
Alana Hampson lived with Baxter, 42, and his brother in New Zealand when she was a teenager going through foster care.
The 38-year-old, who is now estranged from her family, told Daily Mail Australia her cousin’s aggression and contempt for women started when he was a child.
‘There was a lot of violence and rough play… Rowan was disrespectful to women and talked dirty to females… He was f***ed in the head,’ she said.
Ms Hampson added she didn’t ‘nothing bad to say’ about Baxter’s other siblings.
The cousin of loathed killer Rowan Baxter (pictured as a child with his siblings) says he was an angry and violent child who showed signs of cruelty from a young age
Hannah Clarke with Rowan Baxter and their children Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey
Baxter burned his estranged wife Hannah Clarke and their three young children alive in their family car in a vicious act of domestic violence before he killed himself at Camp Hill, Brisbane, last week.
Laianah, aged four, Aaliyah, six, and Trey, three, died on the scene. Hannah died in hospital on Wednesday after suffering horrific burns to 97 per cent of her body.
Ms Hampson said her killer cousin showed ‘little hints’ of cruelty throughout his life.
‘He was an angry kid. There was a bit of cruelty there sometimes, little hints throughout his life. He would yell at you to get out of his room or swear at you. Rowan was like that real abrupt kid,’ she told news.com.au.
Alana Hampson revealed her cousin Rowan showed ‘little hints’ of cruelty throughout his life
Her mother, Dorothy Ann Baxter, is the sister of Rowan’s father.
Dorothy Ann described her nephew as ‘a good boy’ who must have ‘lost the plot’.
‘He’s lost the plot. I don’t know. He couldn’t handle it then one day he just lost it … But I know he wouldn’t do it out of his own mind so he had to be … just lost the plot … I’m not saying Rowan was good for what he did but people do lose the plot,’ she said.
It comes after another cousin on Rowan’s mother’s side, Sandra Taylor, told Daily Mail Australia he had a ‘dangerous sense of possession and entitlement over his wife and children’.
‘Rowan believed that women are two things – to be a house cleaner, and to be a prostitute,’ the mother-of-one said.
‘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.’
She said that while she was ‘shaken to the core’ upon learning what her cousin had done, she was not surprised.
Rowan Baxter’s cousin Sandra Taylor (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia she feared he would murder his estranged wife Hannah Clarke
Baxter is believed to have emotionally abused his ex-wife Hannah Clarke for more than a decade before she took out a violence order against him.
He lost access to his children in February after he breached the order.
Three days before the quadruple murder-suicide, Baxter told a friend he wouldn’t do ‘anything stupid’, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The pair spoke for two hours as the friend feared Baxter was suicidal after his estranged wife Hannah Clarke took out a Domestic Violence Order against him.
During the conversation Baxter revealed he was devastated that he was not allowed to see his children.
Killer dad Rowan Baxter emotionally abused Hannah Clarke for more than a decade
The children of Hannah Clarke and Rowan Baxter pose together on the beach before they were murdered by their father
Talking about Ms Clarke, he said ‘she can do whatever she wants to me but don’t take my kids away from me, that’s all I’ve got left in life,’ the friend told the newspaper.
The friend also revealed that when they parted ways after the meet-up he warned Baxter not to ‘do anything stupid’.
‘The last thing I said to him as he was walking away was “mate, don’t do anything stupid” and he sort of turned as he was walking away and he just said “no mate, I’m not going to do anything stupid.” I was sort of thinking that he might self-harm,’ he said.
The friend said that Baxter was suffering extreme depression that drove him to become a ‘monster’ three days later.
‘If someone told me Rowan was capable of that, I would say, no way, not to his kids. He loved his kids more than anything else in the world,’ the friend said.
Hannah Clarkes brother Nathaniel Clarke is supported by her dad Lloyd during his speech at the vigil for her and her three children Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three
Lloyd and Suzanne Clarke, (center at front) parents to Hannah Clarke, attend a vigil to remember murdered mother, Hannah Clarke and her three children
Meanwhile, more than 1000 mourners gathered at the vigil at Whites Hill State College in Camp Hill on Sunday – just blocks away from the murder scene.
Dressed in pink – Hannah’s favourite colour – her father Lloyd Clarke and brother, Nat, thanked the crowd for their support at the vigil on Sunday evening.
‘We would have felt lost without all your support,’ the distraught father said.
‘I don’t know how we can repay such kindness.’
He described the past week as the ‘hardest of their life’.
Lloyd and Suzanne Clarke, parents to Hannah Clarke, break down at a vigil to remember their murdered daughter
Community members laid flowers by crosses bearing the names of Hannah and her children at the vigil
‘We may not know you all, but you embraced our family when our whole world collapsed and for that we are genuinely grateful,’ he said.
‘While dealing with this truly difficult time, my family and I are forever thankful to our neighbours and those who were first on the scene who tried to desperately help Hannah and the children.
‘You selflessly and without hesitation did what you could to save them. I don’t know how we can repay such kindness, other than to say we will be eternally grateful. You have restored out faith that there are many good and decent people in the world.’
Mr Clarke spoke about his pride over everything his daughter managed to achieve before her life was cut short.
He also reflected on the joy his three grandchildren brought to his life.
Many who addressed the crowd spoke of Hannah’s courage and love.