NSW man admits murdering mother, daughter

A decade after a young mother was violently slain in the notorious Belanglo State Forest and her toddler daughter murdered days later, their killer has admitted his crimes.

While their remains were found 1200 kilometres apart - in the NSW forest and near a suitcase dumped on a highway in SA - they were finally laid to rest together in Alice Springs three years ago.

Now on the eve of his NSW Supreme Court trial, 43-year-old Daniel James Holdom has pleaded guilty to murdering his girlfriend Karlie Pearce-Stevenson in mid-December 2008, in the forest, and Khandalyce Pearce days later in the Wagga Wagga area of NSW.

The remains of the 20-year-old were found in the forest in 2010 but were not identified for five years until after the discovery of her two-year-old daughter's remains in 2015.

They were located with a suitcase on the side of the Karoonda Highway, west of Wynarka, in SA.

Holdom had photographed the mother's body in the forest "as a trophy of sorts", prosecutor Victoria Engel contended at his committal hearing last year.

The photos were found by a former partner of Holdom's on an SD card from his phone.

Those images were the most important piece of evidence in the Crown's "large, complex and circumstantial case", said magistrate Les Mabbutt who ordered Holdom to stand trial.

Holdom also was said to have confessed to stomping on the mother's throat, crushing her windpipe and leaving her body next to a log, as well as suffocating the toddler before throwing her body on the side of a highway.

Holdom and Ms Pearce-Stevenson were seen to argue while staying with people at Charnwood in the ACT on December 14, 2008, before they drove off in her car.

The housemates said Holdom returned alone after being gone for about 14 to 17 hours,

Ms Engel alleged he cleaned her car, sold it and obtained another car which he drove to Wagga Wagga, purchasing duct tape and a dishcloth, before checking into a motel with a child.

But he was alone when seen the next day before he drove on to SA.

An elderberry towel, having the same batch number as those used at the motel, was found with other items near Khandalyce's remains.

"The location where the suitcase was found several years later was entirely consistent with the route of travel he took," the magistrate said.

Ms Engel said Holdom used Ms Pearce-Stevenson's credit card for years after her death, during which time numerous benefit payments continued and $71,770 was debited from her account.

He also was allegedly involved in sending messages from her phone to her mother, Colleen Povey, to curb police investigations into the pair's disappearances.

Ms Povey died aged 44 in 2012, believing her daughter and granddaughter were safe.

When the pair were finally buried together, other family members said it was time for them to be reunited as one in each others' arms.

"Karlie and Khandalyce were loved. They were missed. Their family lived in hope they would one day return home," the statement said.

Holdom will face a sentence hearing on September 28.

Let's block ads! (Why?)