An Oak Bay man who killed his 4 and 6 year old daughters on Christmas day 2017 will spend 22 years behind bars before he is eligible to apply for parole.
Andrew Berry showed no emotion as BC Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper asked him to stand as she pronounced sentence -- his 2 life terms on 2 counts of second degree murder will be served concurrently -- meaning at the same time -- before he is eligible to apply for parole in 22 years. He will be 67 years old.
The Crown had asked for between 21 and 24 years -- the defence asked for between 15 and 20 years.
In determining the sentence and parole Justice Gropper considered the character of the accused, as well as the nature and circumstances of the crime.
Chloe had been struck on her head with a child's baseball bat, which fractured her skull. She and her sister were in separate bedrooms, and were stabbed dozens of times.
Berry was found naked baked in his bathtub suffering what Gropper says were mostly superficial and self-inflicted wounds.
Gropper noted Berry has not accepted responsibility for what he did -- concocting an elaborate story of a dark-skinned man attacking them in his Beach Drive Apartment in retaliation for an unpaid gambling debt. But she notes there was no evidence of anyone else in the apartment.
She says at least 1 of the murders was not spontaneous -- and found Berry abused his position of trust -- describing him as selfish and obsessed in choosing Christmas morning to slay the girls in their beds, in order to keep ex from having their daughters.
Gropper says the way in which the girls died was "heinous, vicious and cruel" a crime that demonstrated Berry is a danger to society.
However, shortly after learning of his sentence conditions Andrew Berry's defence team filed notice to appeal his sentence and the murder convictions.
Defence lawyer Kevin McCullough will argue Gropper erred by prohibiting the cross-examination of some witnesses, and that she failed to explain the difference between murder and manslaughter to the jury.
He will also argue the parole eligibility is "excessive and unfit."