BANGKOK, March 31: A Pakistani man has received life sentence for killing and dismembering a Thai woman he had met through an Internet chat room, local newspapers reported on Saturday.

Mohammad Arif, 35, strangled Dissanee Thongnarkthae, a 28-year-old English teacher, with a pillow after they had sex in a Bangkok hotel in May 2006.

Arif then dismembered the woman with knives and dumped her body parts in bags, the reports said, adding the Criminal Court at first sentenced him to death but reduced to life imprisonment Friday because of his confessions.

The court also ordered Arif to pay some two million baht (57,000 dollars) in compensation for the victim’s family, they said.

A court official could not be reached for confirmation.—AFP