A sentencing hearing starts Wednesday morning in Dawson Creek, B.C., for an Edmonton teenager convicted of murdering his 17-year-old girlfriend.

The Edmonton teen was fatally stabbed in May 2008 after she drove the teen to Fort St. John, B.C., a week before her graduation from Ross Sheppard High School in Edmonton. The youth had been her boyfriend for four years.

The youth, now 18, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February.

Neither the youth or the victim can be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Under the act, the young man faces a maximum seven-year penalty after the guilty plea. The sentencing hearing is expected to last two days.

Life cut too short: friend

In Edmonton, a friend of the victim — who asked to remain anonymous — remembered a young woman whose life was cut too short.

"She had just so much, like, life in her. She had so much that she still needed to do. So much that she wanted to do," the friend said.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the young man convicted of the slaying was associated with the Crazy Dragons, an Edmonton gang involved in the sale and distribution of drugs.

Last year, another gang member asked the young woman to drive him to Fort St. John. She drove the youth and her boyfriend to the northeastern B.C. city and ended up at an apartment after they arrived.

According to the court document, the girl's boyfriend went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife from a block on the counter.

He then walked back into the living room and stabbed his girlfriend twice on the right side of her neck.

Witnesses didn't hear the victim or the accused say anything before the incident. The young woman died in hospital from an excessive loss of blood.

According to the court document, when officers asked the accused what happened he said, "We got in a fight. I picked up a knife and stabbed her."