SYDNEY: The gruesome murder of a 31-year-old mother Hannah Clarke and her three small children, aged 6, 4 and 3, by her estranged 42-year-old husband Rowan Baxter, a former footballer, has shocked the nation and brought into the spotlight an epidemic of domestic violence in Australia that has gone largely unchecked for years. It has also made many Australians question the attitude of men toward women with their greater tendency toward violence.

Clarke, who had left the family home with her three children about a year ago, has been stalked by her husband over a child custody battle. On February 19, while she was taking the three children to school, he barged into the car in a Brisbane suburban street, poured petrol on the occupants and set the car on fire. He later died of self-inflicted stab wounds at the same spot, while the three children died instantly. The mother died of burns to 97 percent of her body in hospital the next day.

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