Daniel James Holdom has received two life sentences for the double murder of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce.
Daniel James Holdom has received two life sentences for the double murder of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce.
Back in 2015, crucial information obtained by Crime Stoppers from members of the public led to the arrest of Daniel Holdom, 41, who was charged with the two murders.
Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s body was found in the Belanglo State Forrest, near Sydney, in 2010 and the toddler’s remains were found in a suitcase on a remote highway in South Australia in 2015.
The judge described Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s murder as a crime of “extreme gravity and appalling depravity”. Holdom had a history of violence towards women and had shown no remorse.
Holdom also used his ex-girlfriend’s phone to text her family giving the impression she was alive, and fuelling her relatives’ torment and despair at not knowing where she was.
Justice Hulme said Holdom had a difficult childhood with a brutal stepfather who violently abused him from the age of four to 15. Holdom had been unemployed for some time and had a problem with drug use at the time of the murders.
The court heard he had a criminal record in NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s family described Holdom’s crimes as “despicable”.
“His brutality will haunt us forever,” they said.
“Nothing done to him will bring Karlie and Khandalyce back or repay the toll on us”.