A man who set his girlfriend on fire in San Francisco's Bayview District during an argument in 2013 was sentenced this week to 27 years in prison, according to prosecutors.
Dexter Oliver, a 27-year-old San Francisco resident, was sentenced on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted murder with an allegation that he caused great bodily injury and had one prior strike on his record.
The attack occurred on Jan. 6, 2013 after the victim, who was then 25, and Oliver had an argument because she had asked him to help carry dirty clothes to a nearby Laundromat and he had refused.
When the victim left with the laundry, Oliver grabbed two empty plastic bottles, filled them with gasoline then went to the Laundromat and threw the fuel on her and lit her on fire, prosecutors said.
He was seen filling the two bottles by two witnesses, and then putting a pair of jeans on over his pajamas by another witness, according to court records.
When he walked to the Laundromat, he and the victim continued to argue. When she said she no longer wanted to date him, he poured the gasoline on her head, face and upper body and then set her on fire with a lighter.
He then took her purse and fled the scene as she burned.
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The victim suffered third-degree burns to her face, head, chest, shoulders and hands and underwent multiple surgeries including reconstructive surgery.
Oliver was arrested the next day in Oakland, where he was registered in a hotel room under a woman's name.
"Burning an innocent woman for breaking up with you is absolute cowardice," District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. "Domestic violence will never be tolerated, but what this man did is vindictive and highly disturbing."
