Friend's heartbreaking tribute to slain mum Hannah Clarke before funeral

The devastated friend of a Brisbane mum who was killed by her estranged husband has written a heartbreaking tribute to her.

Hannah Clarke, 31, was killed by Rowan Baxter in the eastern suburb of Camp Hill alongside their three children – Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3 – on February 19. Baxter also took his own life at the scene.

Ms Clarke’s childhood friend Nikki Brooks has written a tribute to her ahead of the funeral for the mum and her three children in Brisbane on Monday.

In a letter published by Woman’s Day, Ms Brooks wrote of how she met Ms Clarke at a PCYC when they were teens.

“You always made me laugh even when I knew deep down you were hurting more than any of us could imagine,” Ms Brooks wrote.

“You had an irony to your wit, and that smile today even with you gone is resonating across communities far and wide – the beautiful mum and her three little miracles taken from us by someone I refuse to acknowledge.”

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Ms Brooks wrote their families spent time together on a beach on New Year’s Day. They had been celebrating the beginning of Ms Clarke’s “new life of freedom”, she wrote.

“Sadly, that was never to be,” she wrote.

Allison Baden-Clay’s sister Vanessa Fowler has compared the killing of Ms Clarke and her kids to that of Ms Baden-Clay’s murder at the hands of her husband, Gerard.

Baden-Clay murdered his wife in the Brisbane suburb of Brookfield in 2012. He is serving 15 years’ jail.

Ms Fowler told The Australian both women suffered emotional abuse at the hands of their partners who exerted control over them.

She added no one saw bruises on Ms Baden-Clay before she was murdered. The family looked for “physical signs” Baden-Clay had been abusing her.

But the cases were both examples of how emotional abuse can lead to physical violence, she said.

Ms Fowler also told an International Women’s Day event at Rainbow Beach, north of Brisbane, on Sunday, the “first thing” the family thought upon hearing about Ms Clarke’s death with her kids was “it very easily could have been Allison and her three children”.

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If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.

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