Australian tourist, 45, arrested over murder of Thai girl, 17, found stuffed naked in suitcase
An Australian tourist has been arrested over the murder of a Thai girl found stuffed inside a suitcase.
Simon Carman, 45, from Ballarat, Victoria, allegedly picked up Tunchanok Donhomla, 17, from the Beach Road vice strip in Pattaya in the early hours of Thursday morning.
But her worried friends, who did not hear from her again, reported her missing on Friday at 5 pm.
Police retraced her last moments to the hotel room where she had entered hand-in-hand with Carman. Horrified officers found signs of a fight and blood splattered across the floor.
In dramatic scenes, Carman was arrested just two hours later as he tried to board a plane at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on Friday evening. He was allegedly covered in scratch marks on his arms and neck.
Tragically, Tunchanok's naked body was later found bent double in a 26-inch black suitcase alongside a railway line, around 10 minutes from the hotel where Carman had been staying.
Officers are now questioning Carman on suspicion of murder, which carries the death penalty or life in prison.
Police Colonel Anek Sarathongyu, Superintendent of the Pattaya City Police Station, said: ‘The suspect has initially been charged with taking a minor for the purpose of committing an indecent act. We believe he killed her, and he is being questioned on suspicion of murder.
‘He has fingernail scratches across his body that are consistent with a struggle, but he denies killing her. He said that she disappeared from the room while I was asleep and unaware of anything.'
Officers checked CCTV, which appeared to show Carman leaving the hotel at 9: 34pm on Thursday night with a black suitcase matching the luggage that Tunchanok's petite body was found inside.
Surveillance footage allegedly shows him riding a motorcycle with the suitcase strapped to the back.
He then sped alongside the railway tracks before disappearing from view for nine minutes, before being picked up again on camera and returning to his hotel.
Following the report at 5 pm that Tunchanok was missing, officers arrested Carman just two hours later at the country's main airport.
He was driven in a police car back to Pattaya. Officers said he appeared ‘tense' in the back of the vehicle.
Speaking in the video, he is asked by a reporter why he killed her.
‘I don't know how, no,' he says softly.
When asked about the scratches on his neck, he said: ‘I have the same on the other side, I think it's a spider, they always get in here.'
While Carman was being grilled, officers found Tunchanok's battered body at 11 pm. The scene was secured while forensics teams began investigating.
Officers said that an interpreter had been called to the station to assist with the interrogation of Carman. They will question the Aussie over whether he allegedly intended to kill Tunchanok.
Police Colonel Sarathongyu added: ‘The victim went to the hotel room with the suspect, but she was not seen leaving. Then, later, the Australian came out with a suitcase.
‘The victim was found dead inside the same suitcase. She was completely naked, her face showed signs of severe assault, with swelling and bruising covering the entire face, and blood was flowing from her mouth and nose.
'The physical characteristics and tattoos on the body matched those of the girl on CCTV with the suspect.
‘The cameras show that nobody else entered the room. There were signs of a struggle inside.
'Although the foreign man denies killing her, we do not believe him. The evidence that he killed her is extremely strong.
‘We will interrogate him to discover what happened and how she died. We want to know why he killed her. He will be prosecuted according to the law.'
Under the Thai Penal Code, the maximum penalty for murder is the death penalty. However, sentences for the lethal injection are rare, and life in prison is used more widely for murder.
The police chief added: 'The investigating officer will coordinate with prosecutors.'
Pattaya has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Asia due to its round-the-clock sex industry, which attracts men from all parts of the world.
Like Tunchanok, thousands of young girls and women can be found every night along the city's notorious Beach Road, where they can be bought for as little as 1,000 Baht.
Officials have made efforts to clean up the city but are reluctant to quash the lucrative sex-tourism industry, which makes up a substantial chunk of the country's GDP.
