A violent offender who beat his girlfriend to death in East Vancouver should spend at least two decades behind bars before he's eligible for parole, prosecutors argued Monday.

Daniel Alphonse Paul, who has a disturbing history of attacks on women, is facing a life sentence for the 2015 murder of Crystal Rose Paull, a mother of five and a grandmother.

The court heard Paul killed her then lived with her decomposing body for weeks before she was found.

The Crown has asked that Paul be sentenced to 20-25 years in prison before he's given a chance at parole, while the defence has argued for 15 years.

Relatives of the victim told CTV News they want to see her killer locked up for as long as possible. Some of them, including Paull's mother, shared their pain Monday by presenting victim impact statements to the court.

"We are broken," Diane Paull wrote. "You shattered our world."

The court also heard of an attempt to label Paul a dangerous offender following a disturbing sexual assault in 2002, which might have prevented him from ever being released again.

The designation was not applied, and he was released from custody despite what 2010 Parole Board of Canada documents describe as an escalating pattern of criminal behaviour.

The court heard Paul contacted other women within hours of killing his girlfriend. He also used her bank card and lied to one of her children about her whereabouts.

At his sentencing hearing Monday, the defence argued that Paul is remorseful for his actions. He claims he was drunk when he killed Paull and can't remember what happened.

Prosecutors urged the judge to question the sincerity of that remorse, which came at the 11th hour.

Paul is expected to receive his sentence on Friday.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Maria Weisgarber