A 23-year-old man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison in the shooting death of a father of 10 as he stopped to pick up a taxi fare in New Jersey more than three years ago. 

Nathaniel Young had been convicted in October on several counts, including murder, robbery and aggravated assault. He continued to maintain his innocence as he was sentenced Friday. 

Young shot and killed Imad Alasmar, 57, as he stopped to pick up a passenger in August 2015, authorities have said. Alasmar was working to support a wife and 10 children in Edison, New Jersey. Prosecutors say Young demanded money, then shot Alasmar in the neck and cheek and ran off. 

Alasmar's widow and several of his children were in court for Friday's sentencing. Reading a prepared statement on behalf of her mother, who held a tissue to her flooded eyes behind her daughter, Allaa Alasmar recounted the abject devastation Young has had on the family. 

"My family and I have suffered emotionally and we'll never fully recover because of Nathaniel Young," she began. "It breaks my heart every day to think how Young could kill a man without thinking about a loved one -- his wife, his children." 

"I will never get to see my husband again and all I have left of him ... is the face of our children," Allaa Alasmar read. "My 10 kids will now have to grow up fatherless. They will never be able to experience their father's presence when they accomplish their goals."

The heartache extended beyond the immediate Alasmar family. After he was shot and killed, Alasmar's taxi kept  moving. It slammed into a parked car where a boyfriend and his girlfriend sat, propelling her through the window. Ultimately she would lose her leg. Her boyfriend was also hurt.