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A Toronto couple convicted of second-degree murder in the starvation death of their five-year-old grandson will each have to spend at least two decades in prison before becoming eligible for parole.

Justice David Watt delivered decision in a downtown Toronto courtroom Friday.

Elva Bottineau and Norman Kidman, both 54, were convicted in grandson Jeffrey Baldwin's death in April and sentenced to life.

Judge Watt's decision determines how much of that sentence they must serve before becoming able to apply for parole. Ms. Bottineau will have to serve 22 years before becoming eligible. Mr. Kidman will have to serve 20 years.

"The inhumanity revealed here has shocked the community," the Judge said, handing down Friday's decision.

"They must pay a very steep price."

He said the couple would be allowed to apply to have their sentences reduced after just 15 years.

The child died just weeks before his sixth birthday in 2002. He weighed 21 pounds at the time of his death - less than half the normal weight for a child of his age.

During Ms. Bottineau's and Mr. Kidman's trial, court heard disturbing details of Jeffrey's life with the couple, who were supposed to have saved their grandchildren from a life of abuse after they were taken from their birth parents.

Instead, court heard how Jeffrey was kept in a locked, unheated and squalid bedroom for as long as 14 hours a day.

The Crown had asked the pair be ordered to each serve 25 years in prison before becoming eligible for release, calling the two "completely bankrupt of morality."

Ms. Bottineau's lawyer had argued for a sentence of between 12 and 14 years, citing his client's past as an abused child and her diminished capacity as a result of mental and personality disorders.

Mr. Kidman's lawyer did not recommend a specific sentence but argued that his client should be eligible for parole earlier than Ms. Bottineau because he did not plan to kill Jeffrey and had little involvement in the children's lives.

With a report from Canadian Press

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