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Sharif’s non-participation extended to sentencing. After his convictions, Sharif told Justice Paul Belzil he would not participate in the preparation of a pre-sentence report, which could have shed light on his background. During a hearing Wednesday, Belzil said he knows nothing about the accused besides the date of birth on his driver’s licence.

That date, Jan. 1, 1987, is probably incorrect. Sharif fled his native Somalia as a refugee and is unsure of his exact birthday.

Crown prosecutor Shelley Bykewich said Sharif deserves life in prison for the attempted murder of Chernyk.

She said the lack of any explanation for the crimes “makes them that much worse because individual and community fear, indeed terror, fester when residents have no basis on which to assess their level of risk or to take appropriate precautions.”

The difference between murder and attempted murder, she said, is luck.

“An attempted murder is a lucky murder,” she said. “Luck in that the intention (to kill) was not fulfilled.”

She added: “This event was unprovoked, and therefore unable to be predicted which the Crown submits makes all of these attempted murders extremely dangerous. We don’t have any information that can lead us to believe this danger can be mitigated in the future. At best, Mr. Sharif’s risk for future gratuitous violence is unknown.”

She said there were no mitigating factors in the case.

The Crown is asking for an additional 20 years in total for the remaining attempted murder and dangerous driving charges, to be served concurrently to the life sentence. They did not address when Sharif should be allowed to apply for parole. If Sharif is ever paroled, he will likely face deportation.

Lazin is assisting the court but is not Sharif’s lawyer. Lazin, limited in his role as amicus, said sentences for similar offences typically range from 16 to 18 years to life in prison. He also shed some light on Sharif’s journey to Canada, confirming he left Somalia in Oct. 1, 2008, for Kenya, where he stayed until his refugee claim was denied in April 2011.