The Spaliviero hitman case is an 2007 Australian criminal case involving concerns Steven Wayne Spaliviero and swede Charlotte Karin Lindström. Lindström is so far the only one sentenced for the crime, Spaliviero are currently in jail awaiting sentence since 2006 for drug related crimes and has also been charged for the murder plot. The hitman case has been widely reported by media in Australia and Scandinavia.

Charlotte Lindström

Charlotte Karin Lindström (born August 9 1984 in Sollentuna, Sweden) is a former waitress,promotion model and current prisoner who on May 26, 2007 at 10.40am was arrested in Sydney, Australia on suspicion of trying to hire a hitman to kill two men who were about to testify against her boyfriend Steven Spaliviero in court. Since her arrest, she has confessed and pleaded guilty to the crimes she was under suspicion for. Her friend and boss Sydney socialite Justin Hemmes offered to pay a $200,000 bail to set Lindström free so she could work at the Hemmesphere nightclub until trial. The bail was later denied and Charlotte was remanded in custody. Hemmes was also called as a character witness telling the court about Lindströms personality.

Charlotte was initially sentenced to 4 years in jail with earliest parole on may 25,2009. The sentence was appealed by the crown and was heard again on july 4,2008 with a decision from the appeal judges later that month.

On 23 July 2008, The appeal judges increased her minimum sentence from two years to three years after Sydney prosecutors argued that the sentence was "manifestly inadequate". Her maximum sentence was increased from three years and 10 months to four years and nine months. She will be now be eligible for parole in May, 2010. Lindström will appeal the sentence.

Lindström will after her release have the choice to join a witness protection program as she has received death threats. Lindström also became historic as she was awarded the shortest sentence in the history of Australia for the kind of crime she had committed. Charlotte is serving her jailtime at an undisclosed male-prison in Australia, and has told about the daily verbal abuse from male prisoners. With the judge Steven Rotman commenting "Were this (solitary) regime imposed for reasons other than her own safety, it would amount possibly to a form of torture.

Lindströms friend and classmate at Rudbecks Gymnasium,(graduated in 2003) today a world famous model Caroline Winberg has commented on the case saying "She was blinded by love". The two models kept in contact after graduation.

Case

Lindström arrived in Sydney in 2004 and worked as a waitress in the exclusive nightclub Hemmesphere in Sydney. . And also as a part-time model in Sydney. She rented an apartment, where she met her boyfriend Spaliviero who owned the apartment complex, he worked as a property developer. They soon started a relationship living in a apartment in Darling Harbour. Lindström has told investigators that she soon realised that he was both a wealthy businessman and a drug dealer. In early 2007, investigators started to look into Spaliviero's business and soon found two witnesses who said they had information about the man's drug dealing business.

Murder plot

Spaliviero who already was in jail phoned Lindström telling her to meet a hitman and give him money for the crime. Spaliviero is still in custody awaiting sentencing for the murder plot and his drug dealing buisness which could land him a life sentence. Spaliviero has already served a sentence in a U.S jail for fraud.

She contacted what she thought was a hitman but who really was a undercover policeman. The policeman on the case says that Lindström wanted to have two men murdered,and that she would pay $100.000 for each murder. They were about to testify against her boyfriend. At their last meeting Lindström handed over an envelope containing cash for the hit and information about the two men. On May 26, Lindström was arrested in central Sydney, and bail was denied. On September 18, Lindström pleaded guilty to the charges and will now have to wait sentence until March of 2008. On December 21, she pleaded guilty again but in another court in Sydney. Lindström had to appear in a bullet-proof vest at her court hearings because of the death threats against her.

On august 11,2008 Lindström started testifying against her ex-boyfriend in hes courtcase, also reading to the court a love letter she wrote to him in february, 2007 some months before her own arrest.

Mental status

Charlotte Lindström is suffering from anorexia and has told the court that she has had it since young age. Charlotte fell into tears at a july 4 hearing and had to been comforted by a consular. The judge in the case also told that Lindström is suffering from severe paranoia, fearing someone will kill her when she is released.

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