A relative of the mother and three children killed in a Brisbane car fire said the man who set them alight was a “monster” the family had been trying to escape.
Hannah Baxter, a 31-year-old fitness coach, was rushed to hospital after being found in a burning car in Camp Hill on Wednesday morning but died hours later.
Her children – Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4 and Trey, 3 – all died inside the vehicle.
Ms Baxter’s estranged husband and the children’s father, former Warriors rugby league player Rowan Baxter, allegedly jumped into her car, poured petrol on his family and set them on fire before yelling at passersby to stop helping.
He later stabbed himself and died on the footpath.
Ms Baxter’s sister-in-law Stacey Roberts said the family “had their lives taken by a disgusting human being they called their father”.
“Her parents … have exhausted themselves to try and help Hannah escape this monster,” Roberts wrote on a fundraiser page for Ms Baxter and the children’s funeral.
“For all those who knew Hannah or had even just met her once would know how much of a beautiful soul she was, her children were her life.
“All she ever wanted was happiness. Her children were only a reflection of her. Gorgeous, happy kids who held a massive piece in my heart and I’m sure many others because that’s exactly what they were like.”
Friends told the ABC the couple’s marriage problems had been visible for a while, saying Ms Baxter moved out with the children after the Baxters closed their fitness business late last year.
“She loved them so fiercely and she was doing everything she could to protect them,” Caitlin Langford said.
Police investigations into the murder-suicide are continuing.
In Australia, one woman is murdered by her current of former partner every week on average, the Australian Institute of Criminology reported.
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