Why Would You Have Three Kids With A Man Who's Gonna Kill You?

Warning signs.

I had forgotten about the Hannah Clarke case out of Australia, and then I stumbled back across it this morning. Here is probably the most detailed video summary of said case on the Internet:

Essential summary: they met when she was 19. He was 11 years older. Her mom, as is often the case in these situations, hated him off the bat. He was still living with his ex-wife but said they were separated, which you semantically cannot be if you’re living together. They got married and started cranking out kids. It seems the relationship was definitely abusive, maybe not physically, but the psychological term — THERAPY SPEAK! — you often hear on this one is “coercive control.” Finally, years (and kids) into this horror, Hannah left. On Christmas Day 2019, she and her kids celebrated at her parents. The dude, Rowan, called her and was crying. She told her mom that she felt sorry for him. The next day (12/26), she met up with him. He burned her and their children alive in a car, then stabbed himself in the heart. Pretty good guy, right?

The first thing that always pops for me on these is: Why can’t the guy just get a divorce?

I realize the answer to that question is usually: