Exclusive Investigation Uncovers Police Failures in High-Profile Domestic Violence Case
A groundbreaking investigation by Guardian Australia has uncovered serious police failings in the case of Hannah Clarke and her three children, who were murdered by her estranged husband Rowan Baxter in February 2020. The tragedy represents one of Australia's most high-profile domestic violence attacks, yet new evidence reveals critical oversights by law enforcement that were never properly investigated.
Previously Unreported Evidence Emerges
The previously unreported material, uncovered during an exclusive two-year investigation called Broken Trust, shows that Hannah Clarke made repeated disclosures to a police officer that were never logged in official police systems. This failure to properly document her reports of domestic violence and coercive control meant crucial information wasn't available to officers assessing her safety.
Even more disturbingly, the investigation reveals that after the murders, homicide detectives turned their attention to investigating the veracity and motive behind Clarke's allegations against Baxter, rather than focusing exclusively on the perpetrator's actions.
Coroner's Findings Questioned
These revelations cast serious doubt on the coroner's finding that it was unlikely anything more could have been done to prevent Rowan Baxter from killing his family. The new evidence suggests multiple opportunities for intervention were missed due to systemic failures in how police handle domestic violence cases.
The Broken Trust investigation examines the national crisis of domestic violence in Australia, with the Hannah Clarke case representing just one example of alleged serious police failures in cases involving intimate-partner violence.
As part of this ongoing investigation, Guardian Australia has launched a Full Story special podcast series detailing the evidence and allegations of police failings in several domestic violence cases, with the first episode focusing specifically on the Clarke tragedy.
