US Marine convicted of killing transgender woman after finding out she was born a man (Photos)

 A Philippine court on Tuesday convicted a U.S. Marine of killing a Filipino last year after he discovered she was a transgender woman in a hotel in the Philippines while he was on a break after participating in joint military exercises in the country.It is claimed that Pemberton did not know she was transgender until arriving at the hotel room.

According to New York Daily News, he first strangled Jennifer Laude and then dunking her head into a toilet bowl in the hotel they had checked into after meeting in a disco bar in Olongapo city, northwest of Manila.

Pemberton testified in August that he choked Laude during a fight that erupted when he discovered she was a transgender woman, but said she was still alive when he left her in a shower, according to his lawyer, Rowena Garcia Flores.

Lawyers of the Laude family, however, said Laude was dead when Pemberton left her. Police have said that Laude had apparently been drowned in a toilet.

He was sentenced to 12 years in jail.Pemberton will also have to pay £63,000 to the victim's family