Australian cries self defence after being arrested for murder of Thai girl found dead in a suitcase

An Australian man who solicited sexual services from a 17-year-old in Thailand, who was later found dead in a suitcase, is facing the death penalty. Pattaya police said that Tunchanok Donhomla was found "stuffed" naked in the bag. Simon Peter Carman was arrested at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport trying to flee to Australia. He issued a message to his family, saying, "I feel bad for what happened to your daughter. It was out of my control." According to local media reports, the man picked up the teenager from the Beach Road vice strip in Pattaya.

CCTV footage shared by Thai media shows them walking past the security guard of a condominium, holding hands and getting into an elevator around 3.30 am on Thursday. The pair went to a room on the 15th floor of the building in the Bang Lamung district. Nearly 18 hours later, he is seen leaving the hotel with a black suitcase at 9:30 pm. The man gets on a motorcycle with a suitcase strapped to the back and he drives against the traffic along a railway line. Pol Col Anek Srathongyu, chief of the Pattaya City police station, said he then disappeared from camera coverage for about nine minutes.

Australian man says he acted in self-defence

Donhomla had been reported missing since 5 pm on the day she was seen entering the building with Carman. Simon Peter Carman has been charged with murder, concealment of a body, moving or destroying a body, and taking a minor for sexual purposes. He denied killing the girl; however, local reports now suggest that he has confessed to the murder, which he says happened in self-defence.

When the police reached the apartment in the condominium, they did not find Carman but noted that there were signs of a struggle. A manhunt was launched after which he was caught at the Bangkok airport. There were scratch marks on his neck and arms, which allegedly were caused by fingernails. He initially said the marks were from a spider. "I think it's a spider; they always get in here," he said.

Carman told police he brought back Donholma to his apartment for sexual services and had agreed to pay 1,000 baht. But an argument erupted between the two over the agreed price as he offered only 500 baht. He also said in his account that Donhomla "disappeared from the room" while he was asleep.

Donhomla's family told the ABC that they live in Kalasin, about 480km from Pattaya. Donhomla was an only child, and her mother had passed away. She lived with her father and stepmother. She had left home for a vacation with a friend and went to Pattaya on June 16.