A Tibetan herdsman was given a death sentence by a court on Thursday for murdering his wife, burning her body and making it appear as though it was an act of self-immolation.

A statement from the intermediate court in Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province, said Drolma Ja, 33, of Kajia village was detained on March 14 on suspicion of using a scarf to strangle his 29-year-old Tibetan wife Goncho Oma of Hongguang village.

On the morning of March 11, Goncho Oma found half a bottle of beer in her husband's car. She was very angry, because he had sworn in front of a living Buddha that he would give up drinking. They couple quarreled.