“Is this an issue of a woman suffering significant domestic violence and her and her children perishing at the hands of the husband? Or is this an instance of a husband being driven too far?”
Queensland Police are still defending the victim-blaming comments made in the wake of Rowan Baxter burning Hannah Clarke and her children alive in February of 2020.
During a press conference after the murderers, then Det Insp Mark Thompson said Hannah may have ‘pushed’ her former partner Rowan Baxter ‘too far’.
“We need to look at every piece of information,” Thompson said.
“And, to put it bluntly, there are probably people out there in the community that are deciding which side, so to speak, to take in this investigation.
“Is this an issue of a woman suffering significant domestic violence and her and her children perishing at the hands of the husband?
“Or is this an instance of a husband being driven too far?”
Thompson was removed from the case by then police commissioner Katarina Carroll after widespread outrage. He has since been promoted to superintendent.
This year, Thompson helped run a seminar at the Management of Serious Crime program run by the Australian federal police, the Guardian reports.
At the event, his colleague Assistant Commissioner Brian Swan claimed the comments were right to make and they were part of an ‘opportunity to control the narrative’ around Baxter’s actions.
“We lost an opportunity and could have controlled the narrative and kept control of the messaging,” Commissioner Swan said.
He said the comments were designed to encourage people who supported or believed Baxter to come forward.
Given Baxter also died that day, there was no need for anyone to come forward.
They knew who the killer was and his corpse was in their possession so they didn’t need to gather evidence for a trial.
It’s pretty obvious from all the failures of police before Hannah and the children were murdered, the only narrative cops were interested in was that of a violent man who manipulated and used everyone in authority to continue his abuse.
❤️SUPPORT MY WORK❤️
I need your help to support The RED HEART Campaign and Australian Femicide Watch. You can donate or buy a t-shirt! 100% of money raised funds RED HEART and Australian Femicide Watch.