THE man accused of violently murdering Karlie Pearce-Stevenson was involved in the deaths of two children just months before he allegedly killed the young mum.
Daniel Holdom was at the wheel during a 2008 car crash that left his girlfriend, Hazel Passmore, in a wheelchair and killed two of her children, Willow, nine, and Ryan, six.
While Ms Passmore was recovering in hospital, Holdom is believed to have developed a romantic relationship with Ms Pearce-Stevenson, before allegedly killing her in Belanglo State Forest.
The crash occurred on Stuart Highway in South Australia at about 10pm on September 15, three months before Ms Pearce-Stevenson died.
Ms Passmore is now an alleged suspect in a fraud syndicate that police believe used the mother’s identity to pilfer nearly $100,000 from her bank account after her death.
Chillingly, she posted a photo on Facebook in August, 2008, showing her family at a car show in the Northern Territory with Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s daughter Khandalyce, whose body was found in a suitcase in South Australia in July.
Holdom yesterday faced Maitland Court after being arrested in Cessnock on Wednesday and charged with one count of murder in relation to Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s death — but not that of her daughter.
BAIL REFUSED
The 41-year-old has not co-operated with police and did not “wish” to front court but was ordered to appear via video link by Magistrate John Chicken, who said given it was “a matter of some notoriety” he should appear.
“My feeling given the nature of the charge and he will be appearing via AVL … it’s not as if he’s being paraded through court,” he said.
Dressed in prison greens, and sporting a black moustache, he spoke only once yesterday, to indicate that he could hear proceedings.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Ms Pearce-Stevenson had injuries “consistent with being stomped on” and suffered extreme violence to her upper body, particularly her ribs.
Police will allege phone records placed Holdom in Belanglo State Forest on December 14 and 15, when they allege Ms Pearce-Stevenson was murdered.
Holdom, who formerly lived at a caravan park on the Central Coast, did not apply for bail and it was formally refused. He was remanded in custody to appear at Sydney Central Local Court on November 12.
SCAM INVESTIGATED
Holdom’s girlfriend, Ms Passmore, was last night assisting South Australian police with their inquiries into the alleged identity scam.
It comes after police this week revealed a woman in a wheelchair went to an Adelaide bank and used Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s identity to access her accounts after she had been killed.
The scam involved more than 1200 transactions, with Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s bank card used at fast-food restaurants and petrol stations in South Australia and the ACT.
A woman also sent text messages and called Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s mother, who died in 2012, to convince her her daughter was alive.
The woman conned Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s mother into transferring money to her account, which was accessed until 2011 when the welfare payments were stopped after officials identified an “issue”.
Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s unidentified body was found in Belanglo in August 2010, by trail bike riders beside a bush track. She was known as Angel due to the T-shirt emblazoned with “Angelic” found with her body.
Her daughter’s remains were discovered in a suitcase near the South Australian town of Wynarka in July this year — almost five years and 1200km later.
Police are yet to lay any charges over the death of Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s daughter and yesterday revealed she was kept alive after her mother died.
Both mother and daughter met violent deaths but sustained different types of injuries, sources said.
source:news.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 