A man arrested in the Hunter Valley for the murders of a young mother and her toddler has launched an appeal against his life sentences.
Daniel James Holdom was given two life terms in 2018 for killing Karlie Jade Pearce‑Stevenson, 20, and her two‑year‑old daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce. Justice Robert Hulme described the crimes as among the worst of their kind, saying only life imprisonment could meet the needs of punishment and deterrence.
The case transfixed the nation after Khandalyce’s body was found in a battered suitcase beside a remote highway in South Australia in 2015. Her mother’s remains were later discovered in Belanglo State Forest in the NSW Southern Highlands.
Police arrested Holdom in the Hunter Valley later that year, and he was refused bail in Maitland Local Court on two counts of murder. He later pleaded guilty.
Appearing in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney, Holdom’s barrister Susan Kluss argued the sentences were manifestly excessive and failed to properly consider her client’s traumatic childhood. She said his guilty plea spared the community and the victims’ families from a lengthy and distressing trial.
Crown prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys told the court the “grave heinousness” of the crimes justified the maximum penalty, even in the face of a guilty plea. The court has reserved its decision.
