The man convicted of shooting and killing a 52-year-old man in his Victoria apartment in 2010 has been sentenced to life in prison.

Andrew Jonathan Belcourt was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Leslie Hankel in February.

During the four-week trial, court heard a then-19-year-old Belcourt and an accomplice broke into Hankel's Pembroke Street apartment armed with a shotgun, intending to rob Hankel of a large amount of marijuana.

Belcourt fired a gun that struck Hankel in the side of the head, killing him almost instantly.

It turned out there was no marijuana in the apartment.

The sentencing comes seven years after the murder took place. Belcourt was found guilty in an initial trial, but successfully appealed the conviction in 2012.

He will have no chance of parole for 15 years.