VICTORIA -- The sentencing hearing for convicted killer Andrew Berry began Monday morning in B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria.
On Sept. 26, a jury found the Oak Bay man guilty of murdering his two daughters on Christmas Day 2017.
Berry was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of six-year-old Chloe and four-year-old Aubrey.
Each count comes with a mandatory life sentence, with no eligibility of parole for 10 to 25 years.
What Justice Miriam Gropper must now decide is how long Berry will wait before he's eligible to apply for parole, and whether the sentences will be served consecutively or concurrently.
The little girls were found by first responders in Berry's Beach Drive apartment and Berry was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
On Monday morning, Crown counsel Clare Jennings, set out the factors the prosecution say are aggravating and should result in a longer sentence for Andrew Berry.
The prosecutor told the court that Berry stabbed his girls multiple times, killing them in their own beds on Christmas morning, 2017.
Jennings told Justice Miriam Gropper that the little girls' Christmas gifts sat unopened under the tree, their empty stockings still hanging on the wall.
Berry sat silently in the courtroom, unshaven and wearing a red sweat suit. He took notes as details of his daughters murders were recounted.
The prosecution also told the court, that the motive for the crimes, at least in part, stemmed from Berry's animosity towards his ex-partner, the girls' mother, Sarah Cotton.
Despite the convictions, Berry's lawyer told the court that his client maintains he did not kill his daughters.
On Tuesday, the court will hear multiple victim impact statements, including from Cotton.
The sentencing hearing is expected to run for four days, finishing Thursday.
