Prosecutors sought more jail time for James William Pualic, 45, arguing his maximum sentence of 24 years and six months behind bars was manifestly inadequate.
But the Victorian Court of Appeal today dismissed the appeal, finding while the jail term was lenient, it was not outside the range of acceptable sentences.
Pualic admitted breaking into Analyn ‘Logee’ Osias’ home in central Victoria shortly after 11pm on October 29, 2023, while his ex-partner and her young daughters were sleeping.
Osias was dragged from her bed, with Pualic bashing her head against the floor and strangling her before stabbing her to death.
One of Osias’ children heard her screams and rushed into the dining room to see her mother being attacked.
The young girl yelled at Pualic to stop but he ignored her, calling her mother a “bitch” before leaving the property and driving off.
The child called triple zero but Osias could not be saved when paramedics arrived.
The sentencing judge described the attack as vicious, noting Pualic had “brazenly flouted” a family violence intervention order Osias had taken out against him.
But the judge also took into account his early guilty plea, genuine remorse, diagnosed mental health conditions and good prospects of rehabilitation before sentencing him.
Prosecutors argued in the Court of Appeal that the sentencing judge did not give proper consideration to protection of the community, denunciation and just punishment.
They also submitted Pualic’s mitigating factors did not warrant a jail term that fell below the standard for murder, which is 25 years.
But Court of Appeal justices Karin Emerton, Maree Kennedy and Rowena Orr found the sentencing judge had appropriately weighed up all of the factors before jailing Pualic.
The justices accepted the sentence should have reflected the objective gravity of the offence and denounced the abhorrent behaviour.
But they said Pualic’s jail term also needed to be moderated to reflect his early plea and other factors like his mental impairment.
“While we consider the sentence that resulted from the judge’s instinctive synthesis of these factors to be lenient, we are not satisfied that it was wholly outside the range of available sentences,” the judgment stated.
The appeal was dismissed, with Pualic to be eligible for parole after 19 years.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
