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News in 5: Hannah's stepson says "we both suffered", distressing triple-0 call after 3yo's bus death & more.

1. ‘We shared a bond, as we both suffered.’ Hannah Clarke’s stepson on the years of torment he endured.

Last week in Brisbane, Nathaniel Clarke lost his sister Hannah, his nieces Laianah, 6, Aaliyah, 4, and his nephew Trey, 3, in a horrific car fire lit by their dad who also died from self-inflicted wounds.

Speaking to A Current Affair, Nat says Rowan Baxter’s estranged son from a previous relationship, Isaiah, reached out to him after Hannah’s death and sent him an emotional message.

HANNAH BAXTER
Hannah Clarke and her three children died after her estranged husband set their car alight. Image: Facebook.

"We shared a similar bond, as we both suffered years of domestic abuse and torment at the hands of Rowan," he told Nat.

"His appalling parenting caused irreversible damage to my mental health," it read. "If I could take the place of Laianah, Aaliyah, and Trey I would in a heartbeat."

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The 22-year-old was Hannah's stepson for a decade.

On Facebook last week, Hannah's friend Manja Whaley shared an eerie conversation she had with Rowan Baxter once about his former relationship.

"There was one thing he had said, really matter of fact, when you first got together 10 years ago and that was that 'he had told his ex-partner with whom he had a child, that if she was to leave him he would take the child and end his own life and that of the child'. He never did but you told me that this comment has always stuck in your mind," she wrote.

NAT-CLARKE
Nat Clarke spoke to 7:30 last night about his sister Hannah. Image: ABC.
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Speaking to ABC's 7:30 last night, Nat Clarke says the day his sister was killed was "the worst day of my life."

"I was out in the paddock working, and the bloke I work with called me in and said, 'Look, you've got to take this, it's personal,'" Nat recalled.

"I took it and my wife couldn't get the words out. I got: 'You need to come home', and then silence. And my heart broke. I didn't know if it was my kids, I didn't know what was going on.

"And then the next thing she said is: 'He killed them all'."

Nat called his father and learned Hannah, 31, was in intensive care but says he "didn't know the magnitude of what had happened".

"It had been explained on the phone what sort of had happened, but I didn't know the whole nation had already stopped," he added.

The family held a memorial over the weekend for Hannah and her kids, which was attended by 1000 people. Nat and his family wore pink in their loved one's honour.

Vigil Held For Murdered Mother And Children
Nat Clarke with his family and his sister Hannah's memorial service. Image: Jono Searle/Getty Images.
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Speaking to 7:30 Nat says "what cuts the deepest" is that Hannah's estranged husband Rowan Baxter made them suffer.

"It wasn't quick. It was planned and executed. He had a plan that night when he killed the kids and he was a blubbering mess. He knew what he was doing then. He had it all planned out, he knew what he was doing the following morning," Nat told the broadcaster.

"He couldn't even do it quick. That's the worst thing. He made them suffer, and her."

2. "My whole life is over." Childcare manager's triple zero call after 3-year-old found dead on bus.

When Cairns childcare manager Michael Glen Lewis, 45, found the body of a toddler in the back of his centre's bus he dialled triple zero.

According to a transcript of that call that was read out in court, he said:

"Oh my God, this kid is dead.

"Oh my God. I'm the director of the childcare centre.

"The child was left on the bus all day.

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"I've just opened up the bus and he's here, dead.

"... I'm so sorry buddy.

"I'm going to jail, this is my fault.

"Oh my God. My whole life is over."

Both Lewis and childcare worker Dionne Beatrice Grills have been charged with manslaughter after the little boy was left to die in the Queensland heat last Tuesday afternoon.

Lewis was driving the minibus that collected the child from his home about 9am that morning, and parked it for the day outside Hambledon State School. He returned at 3:15pm to find the child dead.

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The court was told the boy was a victim of a criminal act of negligence.

Grills, 34, was also on the bus the morning of the boy's death. She was a casual employee who had been working at the centre for less than a month.

"The family is suitably distressed and very upset about this. And hopefully, now that the matter is before the court, they'll get the answers they need," Acting Detective Inspector Jason Smith told reporters outside court.

3. Harvey Weinstein still in hospital after being found guilty of rape.

Harvey Weinstein was meant to be at Rikers Island after he was found guilty of a first-degree criminal sex act and third-degree rape on Tuesday, but the 67-year-old still remains in hospital.

After the guilty verdict was read out in the Manhattan courthouse yesterday, the ambulance carrying Weinstein was diverted from Rikers to Bellevue hospital where he remains in the prison ward, reports CNN.

His lawyer says the convicted rapist was having heart palpitations due to his high blood pressure.

Harvey Weinstein jail time
Harvey Weinstein remains in hospital after being found guilty of rape. Image: Getty.
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In court, his defence team explained that "he is under the care of five doctors currently. He's dealing with the remnants of his back operation which was not successful."

After finding out his fate, defence attorney Arthur Aidala said Weinstein turned to him and said: "But I’m innocent, I’m innocent, I’m innocent. How can this happen in America?" reported Bloomberg.

The charges he was found guilty of were the sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and the rape of aspiring actor Jessica Mann in 2013.

More than 90 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, and he is facing further charges in a Los Angeles court. He has denied all of the accusations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.

- With AAP.

Feature image: A Current Affair 

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