Aggravated assault in Canada

A friend of mine was nearly murdered after being stabbed, the person is only being chraged with aggravated assault. I live in Victoria B.C. Canada but can't find any canadian law info so I have to ask this here.

What is he maximum sentence this scum can recieve? is there someway of getting him charged with a more serious offense like.. attemtped murder or assault with a deadly weapon? i.e through family testifiying or pictures showing the injuries etc.

He was litteraly gutted like a fish outside a nightclub on saturday and anyone looking at his stomach can't honestly say the guy didn't want to kill him :?

Under Canada's assault law,

Quote:

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Quoting Criminal Code, Section 268

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268. (1) Every one commits an aggravated assault who wounds, maims, disfigures or endangers the life of the complainant.

(2) Every one who commits an aggravated assault is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

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yeah I managed to find that right after I posted the question. So what factors would have to be in place to get the maximum or near the max?

Also if any lawyers out there have dealt with this charge under similar cicumstances, what was the outcome? how often do these charges bring forth a sentence of more then 8 or 10 years?

I can't see him pleading anythign but guilty, there were over 30 witnesses including the nightclub staff. Inside the bar the guy smashed a bottle over my friends head, my friend then was thrown out of the bar and this scum bag was left inside since he was friends witht he bouncer ( this is where i think the club did wrong and I'm wondering if my friend can sue them).

The guy came out 5 or 10 mins later and a few fists were thrown between the 2. The guy ran to his car grabbed a knife and slashed him across the scalp and neck, then stabbed him in abdomen and litterlay tried to gut him like a fish. He has a 12 inch long wound held togther by staples on his tummy, he lost alot of blood and almost died ont he street waiting for paramedics :?

So yeah those are the circumstances.