STANDING on a bustling Sydney street corner in mid-2003, Charlotte Lindstrom was just another pretty young thing – a 19-year-old who had travelled to Sydney with a group of school friends for a working holiday, a world away from her family and pleasant, middle-class life in Sweden.
It was only meant to be a six-month trip but as she stood on that chilly winter’s night, smiling and handing out promotional flyers outside gentleman’s club Minc Lounge on George St, she could not have known the twist her life was about to take. She was on a dangerous course within hours. The owner of the club arrived at some time during the evening. Suave Steven Wayne Spaliviero was pleased by what he saw in Lindstrom. He arranged a position for her on the club’s door, perhaps in part so he could see her again. Charlotte did not need much convincing. She was under his spell.
Things moved quickly between Lindstrom and Spaliviero, who was separated from his wife, and by New Year’s Eve, they were “boyfriend-girlfriend”, the blonde told a court last month.
They were regulars on Sydney’s party scene, going to the best restaurants, clubs and events together. Lindstrom was in her element, her dazzling smile and happy disposition untainted by her boyfriend’s dark secrets. “He owned different clubs, which he did up and sold,” Lindstrom has said, describing Spaliviero’s occupation as she then knew it. His wealth funded her taste in designer clothing, French champagne and drugs such as cocaine. Lindstrom was happy, and her long-running battle with anorexia was in remission. Her parents have told Australian Women’s Weekly they sensed trouble. Spaliviero was 18 years older than their only child.
By May 2004, Spaliviero was ready to let Charlotte into his world properly.Before long she was joining her boyfriend on trips to his drug labs. Then Spaliviero was arrested again, this time by NSW police alleging he was the head of a commercial drug manufacturing operation. It was the end of Lindstrom’s innocence.
She steadfastly supported the man who was now her fiance. Lindstrom maintains that he asked for her help to offer $200,000 to have two prosecution witnesses killed before they could give evidence against him.In a meeting with “solicitors”, which she said was code for hitman, she put the nail in her own coffin. As she handed over an envelope with details of the two witnesses’ identities and their photos circled, Lindstrom was asked if Spaliviero wanted them “in the hospital or the cemetery?” “Cemetery,” Lindstrom softly replied.
The hitman was an undercover policeman
Lindstrom pleaded guilty to soliciting the murder of two Crown witnesses in Spaliviero’s drug trial in 2007. The long months behind bars left the gorgeous former socialite with just one thing on her agenda – a flight out of Australia. She left behind three years spent in virtual isolation, serving a sentence for a crime she committed out of love for then boyfriend Steven Spaliviero – a self-confessed drug manufacturer. The girl who made a potentially deadly mistake to help the love of her life will now spend the rest of hers looking over her shoulder.
The downfall of model prisoner Charlotte Lindstrom
Swedish model Charlotte Lindstrom all smiles as she heads home- Daily Telegraph
23-vuotias ruotsalaisneito tilasi kaksi palkkamurhaa – tuomittiin neljän vuoden vankeuteen Australiassa.
Charlotten tarina alkoi ylioppilaskirjoitusten jälkeisestä matkasta Australiaan kesällä 2003. Hän tapasi itseään huomattavasti vanhemman Steven Spalivieron, 42, joka tarjosi tuolloin tarjoilijana työskennelleelle ruotsalaistytölle mahdollisuuden ylelliseen elämään.
Yhtäkkiä hän sai Porschen alleen, asui Sydneyn vauraimmassa korttelissa ja shoppaili design-vaatteita. Ruotsalainen kiipi nopeasti julkkiseliittiin, siemaili samppanjaa ja rusketti ihoaan Australian hienoimmilla hiekkarannoilla. Hänen uuteen ystäväpiiriinsä lukeutui muun muassa amerikkalainen rappari Snoop Dogg. Palkkamurhaaja olikin poliisi Jo lyhyen seurustelun jälkeen ruotsalaistytölle valkeni, että rikas bisnesmies hänen rinnallaan oli sekaantunut miljoonaluokan huumevälitysrinkiin. Miesystävä pidätettiin lokakuussa 2006 epäiltynä suuren huumeliigan johtamisesta. Poliisi oli takavarikoi 40 kiloa puhdasta ekstaasia, arvoltaan yli 70 miljoonaa euroa. Syyttäjän kaksi avaintodistajaa oli raivattava tieltä – ja siihen miesystävä tarvitsi Charlottelta vastapalveluksen.
Ruotsalaistyttö tapasi 25. toukokuuta Sydneyssa ammattitappajan ja ojensi tälle kirjekuoren, joka sisälsi yksityiskohdat murhattavista. Palkkioksi oli luvattu 200 000 dollaria molemmista. Huumepomon tyttöystävä jäi kiinni itse teossa, sillä oletettu palkkamurhaaja olikin rikolliseksi tekeytynyt poliisi.
Tytön henki kaupan
Tutkintavankeudessa tyttö on katunut tekoaan, anonut armoa ja paljastanut poliisille kaiken tietämänsä entisen miesystävänsä hämäristä bisneksistä. Häntä pidettiin tiukasti eristettynä muista vangeista, sillä tytön henki on nyt vuorostaan kaupan. Maksimirangaistus tästä rikoksesta olisi 25 vuotta vankeutta, mutta hän selvisi ennätyslyhyellä tuomiolla syyttäjän kanssa tekemänsä diilin takia.
Hän vapautui vankilasta toukokuun loppupuolella ja poistui saman tien maasta.
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