SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- A man from the Bayview area of San Francisco on the U.S. west coast was sentenced to 27 years in prison on Thursday for setting his girlfriend on fire in 2013.

The 27-year-old man, named Dexter Oliver, who has three previous records of domestic violence, got a five-year sentence after he committed what an assistant district attorney called "a heinous act" that almost killed his victim, local media said.

Oliver, who will serve his term in a U.S. state prison, attacked his girlfriend Starr Lamare on Jan. 6, 2013 after an argument about clothes at a paid laundromat near their home in the Bayview region.

During the fight, Oliver filled two milk bottles with gasoline and poured it all over Lamare before setting her ablaze.

Lamare suffered severe injuries with most of her face and upper body burned.

Oliver was arrested in Oakland, northeast of San Francisco, one day after the assault and charged with attempted murder and arson.

He pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Lamare in November last year.