Body-in-suitcase double murderer Daniel Holdom appeals life sentences

A decade after his arrest in the Hunter Valley, a double killer who dumped the body of a toddler in a suitcase after murdering her mother is appealing his life sentences.

Readers are advised that this article contains graphic details that may be distressing.

The murders of Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson, 20, and her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce became a cold case that transfixed the nation after the toddler's body was found in a suitcase in a remote part of South Australia.

Crimes of 'grave heinousness'

In 2008 the mother and daughter left their home in Alice Springs without warning, accompanied by Ms Jade Pearce-Stevenson's boyfriend of two months, Daniel James Holdom.

Within weeks Holdom had murdered them both.

In November 2018 Holdom was given two life sentences for crimes Justice Robert Hulme described as the worst of their kind.

"The offender has a level of culpability for each of the two murders that is so extreme that … punishment and deterrence can only be met through the imposition of a life sentence," Justice Hulme said.

Holdom is appealing those sentences in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney, arguing they were manifestly excessive.

His barrister Susan Kluss told the court Holdom pleaded guilty but got no discount for doing so, despite sparing people from hearing the evidence in the case.

"Ultimately this would have been an extensive trial that would have extended over weeks given the nature of the material and the prosecution after finding the child's body," she said.

"Also not minimising but indeed emphasising the trauma to the family of each of the deceased."

Crown prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys said given the "grave heinousness" of the crimes, they were "offences that warranted the imposition of the maximum penalty".

"A life sentence may be imposed even though an offender has pleaded guilty," she said.

'Callous and sadistic'

Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson was sexually assaulted and murdered in the infamous Belanglo State Forest, linked to serial killer Ivan Milat, in the NSW Southern Highlands.

Her remains were found by trail bike riders in 2010.

During sentencing Justice Hulme said there was evidence Holdom used extreme force against Ms Pearce-Stevenson, stomped on her body, violated it in "a callous and sadistic way" and took trophy photos.

Four days after her mother died, two-year-old Khandalyce was killed and put in a suitcase that Holdom dumped by the side of a remote highway in South Australia.

The beaten-up suitcase containing the body of a little girl was found in 2015.

Shortly after, police got a tip-off that ultimately linked the two deaths.

Tip-off and murder

In October of 2015,  Holdom was arrested in the NSW Hunter Valley, where he was refused bail in Maitland Local Court on two counts of murder.

Justice Hulme told the original trial that Holdom had a criminal record in NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory, and had endured a difficult childhood with a brutal stepfather who violently abused him from the age of four to 15.

One of his four grounds for appeal is that Justice Hulme "failed to give proper consideration to the background of the applicant".

On Wednesday his barrister told the court her client's background was dismissed by the sentencing judge.

"There was a wealth of evidence that supported his [brutal] background and findings were made, but ultimately the background had no effect on the sentence," Ms Kluss said.

The Crown prosecutor said the sentence was warranted and repeated parts of Justice Hulme's judgement before he handed down the life terms.

She said he lacked remorse and was callous and deceptive after the murders.

Holdom admitted to using Ms Pearce-Stevenson's bank account after her death, pocketing $72,000.

Chief Judge at Common Law Natalie Adams, Justice Peter Hamill and Justice Edward Muston have reserved their decision.