A MAN who murdered a young mother and her two-year-old daughter kept a child-rape hit list in a notebook found by police, it has been revealed.
Horror new details of Daniel James Holdom’s crimes emerged after the NSW Supreme Court yesterday lifted suppression orders on evidence linked to the murders of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson, 20, and her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce.
Ms Pearce-Stevenson and little Khandalyce were murdered days apart in 2008 and their remains were disposed of in different states.
Their bodies were not identified until 2015 when police connected a tiny skeleton found in a suitcase on a South Australian highway to unidentified remains found in NSW’s Belanglo State Forest in 2010.
It can now be disclosed that a number of items were found in that suitcase that spoke of the horrors endured by the child at the hands of Holdom after he murdered her mother.
They include revelations Khandalyce’s skeleton was found with a nappy wrapped around her skull and balls of dishcloth were stuffed inside her mouth. Duct tape and a bloodstained towel were also found inside the bag.
Crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi, QC, told the court it was “highly likely” Khandalyce was still alive when she was “trussed up in this way”, gagged and taped, The Daily Telegraph reported.
“The exact circumstances of Khandalyce’s death remain unknown but there can be no doubt her last moments must have been horrific,” he said.
THE NOTEBOOK
Police later found a notebook belonging to Holdom, in which he wrote a list of children’s names and the words “consent” and “forced” next to them.
Holdom pleaded guilty to the murders in July and was yesterday forced to face relatives of his victims at a sentencing hearing.
Family members of Ms Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce sat in the second row of the court public gallery with some laying eyes on Holdom for the first time, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Other relatives watched the hearing via audiovisual links from both Darwin and Port Augusta.
Prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Holdom to two life terms for the “extremely wicked and atrocious” murders.
Defence barrister Greg Woods said the defendant’s traumatic upbringing, which included prolonged abuse, had played a role in the offences.
“Though he has done dreadful things, to which he has pleaded guilty, dreadful things were done to him,” Mr Woods said.
Holdom attempted to issue an 11th-hour apology after hearing of the impact of his “grave crimes” but Justice Robert Allan Hulme was not convinced of his sincerity.
“I’ll have to think about whether I give that any weight at all. Why should I?” he said to Mr Woods.
THE MURDERS
Police believe Holdom had been in a relationship with Ms Pearce-Stevenson for about two months before killing her in December 2008. Khandalyce is thought to have been murdered about four days later.
The young mother’s remains were found in the notorious Belanglo State Forest in 2010, but were not identified until her daughter’s remains were discovered in a suitcase dumped beside a South Australian highway in 2015.
Her mother’s unidentified body was for years known as “the Angel of Belanglo” because a T-shirt she was found wearing had the word “angelic” on it.
She had bone fractures indicative of being forcefully stomped on or kneed in the chest, the agreed facts state.
“This was a thrill kill, as evidenced by the taking, collecting and keeping of the trophy photographs he took of Karlie around the time of her death,” Mr Tedeschi said.
Her blonde toddler, suffocated by Holdom “probably” in a hotel room in Narrandera, was found with balls of dishcloth stuffed in her mouth, layers of tape wound from her chin to her eyes, and a disposable nappy wrapped around her skull.
“Both murders fall within the worst case and can aptly be described as atrocious, detestable, hateful, gravely reprehensible and extremely wicked,” Mr Tedeschi said.
He is calling for two life sentences for the man behind their “callous, depraved and grossly heinous” deaths.
Holdom also used bank cards and personal papers to steal more than $70,000 from Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s accounts, and a mobile phone to create “false indications” to her family that she and Khandalyce were alive.
NEVER-ENDING NIGHTMARE
The victims’ birth father and grandfather, Bruce Pearce, says the hatred he feels for Holdom is “consuming”.
“I wake from nightmares with the fear that you will get away with what you’ve done,” Mr Pearce said in a victim impact statement.
“The one question that I want you to answer for me is a simple one: Why? I would like to see the death penalty for you but even that would not be enough.”
Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s mother, Colleen Povey, died from breast cancer in February 2012.
“Her very last distinguishable sentence (was) ‘Is Karlie and Khandles here yet?’,”
Karlie’s stepfather, Scott Povey, said in his statement.
“I was holding her hand when she died and I knew that Karlie was not coming.”
The court heard Holdom had committed another 20 fraud offences, and was behind the wheel of a car between Alice Springs and Adelaide when it crashed, leaving his then-partner in a wheelchair and killing her two children.
Mr Woods argued his client suffered a deeply abusive childhood and should serve lengthy jail time but not life.
Holdom is listed for sentence on November 9.
— with AAP
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