Shocking new footage has emerged showing the final moments of a 17-year-old Thai girl as she walked hand-in-hand with a 46-year-old Australian tourist into a Pattaya condominium, minutes before she was allegedly murdered, her naked body crammed into a suitcase and dumped like rubbish beside railway tracks.
Simon Peter Carman, from Ballarat in Victoria, was dramatically arrested at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Friday night as he tried to board a flight back to Perth. He now faces charges including intentional murder, concealing a body, and offences related to a minor.
The victim, identified as Tunchanok Donhomlao, known to friends as “Nong Cake” was just 17 and from Kalasin province in Thailand’s northeast. She was reportedly picked up from the notorious Beach Road vice strip in Pattaya in the early hours of Thursday.
CCTV footage shows the pair entering the building together at around 3:34 am on June 25.
Carman, wearing a black sleeveless top and shorts, is seen leading the teenager – dressed in a checkered shirt and jeans – through the lobby of the condominium in the Jomtien Beach area.
Hours later, the same man was captured on camera dragging a large black suitcase out of the building. He reportedly loaded it onto a scooter and rode a short distance to an overgrown area beside railway tracks, where he abandoned it.
When police later opened the suitcase, they found the naked body of the teenage girl curled up inside. She had suffered visible facial injuries consistent with a violent assault, including swelling, bruising and blood around her mouth and nose.
Friends reported her missing on Friday afternoon. By that evening, Carman was in custody after immigration officers, acting on a tip-off from Pattaya police, stopped him at the airport just before he could board his flight home.
Simon Peter Carman during questioning. Police noted scratch marks on his neck and arms consistent with a struggle.
Carman initially claimed the girl had simply disappeared from his room while he was asleep. Confronted with the damning CCTV evidence, he later admitted killing her but insisted it was in self-defence during a struggle.
According to Thai police and reports from the interrogation footage now circulating widely in Thailand, the pair had agreed on a payment of 1,000 baht for sex. When Carman discovered she was menstruating, he allegedly demanded the price be halved to 500 baht. An argument erupted.
The Australian man claimed he acted in self-defence after the teenager resisted. Police say he has scratches consistent with a fight.
In chilling footage from his questioning, Carman is seen delivering a calm, almost detached “apology” to the victim’s family. Speaking in broken English, he reportedly said words to the effect of: “I feel bad for what happened to your daughter… It was out of my control… I know you’ll be very sad, upset… same as me.”
There was reportedly no visible emotion or genuine remorse, leaving Thai social media users outraged at his cold demeanour.
Police Colonel Anek Sarathongyu of Pattaya City Police Station said Carman was charged with multiple offences and remanded in custody. Murder in Thailand can carry the death penalty, though it is rarely carried out.
The case has sent shockwaves through Thailand, with locals expressing fury at the brutal disposal of the teenager’s body and the foreign tourist’s apparent attempt to flee the country.
Carman remains in custody in Pattaya as the investigation continues. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
