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A man who murdered a young mother and her toddler before dumping their bodies hundreds of kilometres apart is now fighting to have his two life sentences reduced.

Daniel James Holdom is appealing the punishment handed down in 2018 for killing Karlie Jade Pearce‑Stevenson, 20, and her two‑year‑old daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce — a case that gripped the nation for years.

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The pair vanished in 2006 after leaving Alice Springs with Holdom, Karlie’s boyfriend of just two months. They were last seen in South Australia in 2008 and reported missing the following year.

Karlie was sexually assaulted and murdered in the Belanglo State Forest in NSW — the same forest linked to serial killer Ivan Milat.

Her remains were discovered by trail bike riders in 2010.

Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce Pearce were murdered in 2008. Credit: AAP

After Holdom killed Khandalyce, he placed the toddler’s body in a suitcase and dumped it beside a remote highway near Wynarka in South Australia.

The battered suitcase was found in 2015, sparking a nationwide cold‑case investigation that eventually linked the child to Karlie.

Holdom was arrested in the Hunter Valley and sentenced to life behind bars for both murders in 2018.

A decade on, he is now arguing in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal that the sentences were “manifestly excessive”.

Karlie’s family told 7NEWS they are devastated the case has returned to court.

“He deserves to spend every remaining day of his life in prison for what he did to our family,” they said.

“Karlie was loved, Khandalyce was loved. They have never been forgotten and never will be.”