Judge slams ‘utterly terrifying ‘ killer who slaughtered mother in presence of kids
The “full force of the law was not enough” to protect a woman from a “vicious and entirely merciless” attack that orphaned her daughters last year.
“Psychotic” killer James William Pualic has been sentenced to 24 years behind bars after stabbing and strangling Bendigo mother Analyn “Logee” Osias in the presence of her young daughters last year.
After drinking a bottle of vodka and taking an overdose of sedatives, Pualic, 45, forced himself into his former partner’s Kangaroo Flat home before stabbing and strangling her to death.
After killing the mother of four, Pualic was found lying on the shore of a creek in an “incoherent and substance-affected” state.
Ms Osias was found with significant abrasions, cuts and bruises, with the cause of death determined to be a stab wound that cut her carotid artery.
Justice Rita Incerti told the Supreme Court that Pualic “entered her home while she was asleep and set upon her, dragging her from her bed”.
“You strangled Mrs Osias and repeatedly beat her head against the ground … after she was immobilised, you armed yourself with a knife from the kitchen and ended her life.
“I am satisfied that at the time of the murder, you lost self-control driven by strong subjective indignation of moral rage against Ms Osias who in your mind had abandoned and deliberately betrayed you.”
Describing the offence as “vicious and entirely merciless”, Justice Incerti added that its severity was heightened by Pualic knowing how it would impact Ms Osias’s young daughters, one of which witnessed the crime while the other slept meters away.
“Mrs Osias was killed in the presence of her young daughters … you knew full well you would leave them motherless and, with the (prior) death of their father, orphaned.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers read a written victim impact statement from Ms Osias’s eldest daughter earlier this month.
The 21-year-old, who has taken custody of her younger orphaned sisters, wrote that “the shock and denial my sisters have endured over this time has been nothing but tough and exhausting”.
“Their whole demeanour changes when someone they know is sick because they think it’s another person they could lose.”
The court was told that Pualic had a long history of psychotic mental illness, having been diagnosed with a range of schizo-psycho disorders throughout his life.
In 1999, a 20-year-old Pualic punctured a stranger’s lung after stabbing him three times, and at the time of Ms Osias’s murder, he was already facing charges of assault against her from July 2023.
Noting that the Supreme Court heard three other cases of alleged family violence murders in the last two months alone, Justice Incerti said: “This type of crime has become distressingly familiar.
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“Women are being killed by their partners at a disproportionate and utterly terrifying rate.
“The message must be heard loud and clear; committing serious violence in a family setting and taking the life of another will be met with severe punishment.”
Pualic was sentenced to 24 years and six months in prison, including a minimum of 19 years before parole eligibility.