{"id":765969,"date":"2026-06-28T15:38:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T15:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/765969\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T15:38:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T15:38:47","slug":"australian-man-charged-with-murder-in-thailand-after-teenage-girls-body-found-in-suitcase-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/765969\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian man charged with murder in Thailand after teenage girl\u2019s body found in suitcase | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Australian man has been charged with the murder of a teenage girl whose naked body was found in a suitcase in Thailand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pattaya City police told the Guardian the man, identified as Simon Peter Carman, 46, has denied the charges against him.<\/p>\n

In video footage of Carman in custody obtained by the ABC and other media, Carman says what occurred was \u201cout of my control\u201d. Local Thai media have reported the alleged crime began with a disagreement over money.<\/p>\n

Carman was arrested at Bangkok\u2019s Suvarnabhumi airport on Friday evening<\/a> in connection with the disappearance of Tunchanok Donhomla, 17, in Pattaya on Thailand\u2019s eastern Gulf coast.<\/p>\n

After questioning Carman in the early hours of Saturday morning, local police in Pattaya found a naked body in a suitcase near railway tracks, which they identified as Donhomla.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

Police said they have laid three charges against Carman of murder, concealing a corpse in an attempt to hide the cause of death, and abduction of a minor over 15 but not yet 18 years of age for indecent purposes.<\/p>\n

Carman denied all charges, they said.<\/p>\n

In videos taken while Carman was in custody he addresses the victim\u2019s family: \u201cI feel bad for what happened to your daughter. It was out of my control.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you \u2013 I know you\u2019ll be very sad, upset. Same, same me. It shouldn\u2019t happen. I hope you\u2019re OK \u2013 I know you\u2019re not \u2013 but I hope and tell other girls just to be \u2026 careful \u2026\u201d Carman says in the video.<\/p>\n

The footage appears to show scratch marks on Carman\u2019s upper arms and neck which he describes as spider bites: \u201cI think it\u2019s a spider; they always get in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

CCTV footage, also seen by the Guardian and verified by police, allegedly shows Carman and Donhomla holding hands in a condo lobby while waiting for an elevator shortly after 3.30am on Thursday.<\/p>\n

CCTV footage from later Thursday evening \u2013 between 9.25pm and 9.48pm \u2013 allegedly shows Carman dragging the suitcase out of the building and leaving on a motorbike with it strapped behind him, and between 9.57pm and 10.06pm returning without the suitcase.<\/p>\n

The local Thairath news website reported that Carman pleaded not guilty to police, saying that he acted in self defence which resulted in Donhomla\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Thairath reported that a struggle ensued because of a disagreement over the charge for Donhomla\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

In Thailand\u2019s criminal code<\/a>, being convicted for murder can carry the death penalty or between 15 and 20 years\u2019 inprisonment.<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s father, Thongchai Donhomla, 46, said he was struggling to come to terms with the loss, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply saddened. My daughter had \u2060no mother, so whenever she wanted anything, she would find a \u200bway herself, and she \u200balways helped me too,\u201d he \u200bsaid.<\/p>\n

Carman remained in custody at Pattaya City court on Sunday. He will appear in court at a date to be determined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Australian man has been charged with the murder of a teenage girl whose naked body was found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-765969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}