{"id":896528,"date":"2026-09-18T12:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/896528\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T12:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:36:22","slug":"australian-simon-carman-accused-of-murdering-teenager-in-thailand-denied-bail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/896528\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Simon Carman, accused of murdering teenager in Thailand, denied bail"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Australian man accused of murdering a Thai teenager has been denied bail after prosecutors argued he could try and flee the country.<\/p>\n

Simon Peter Carman, 45, faced the Pattaya Provincial Court in Thailand today in what was his first appearance before a judge since his arrest in late June.<\/p>\n

He stands accused of picking up 17-year-old Tunchanok Donhomla along Pattaya’s popular Beach Road in June before killing her and discarding the body.<\/p>\n

Mr Carman appeared in court barefoot with heavy chains around his ankles and his wrists in handcuffs.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have charged him with intentional murder, concealing a corpse, moving or destroying a corpse, and abducting a minor over 15 but under 18 for indecent purposes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tunchanok Donhomla, 17, was from the Kalasin province in Thailand. (Supplied: Pattaya Police)<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old denied all charges, telling the court he had acted in self-defence and was mistaken about Ms Tunchanok’s age.<\/p>\n

He also urged the court to grant him bail.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors objected, telling the court Mr Carman was apprehended while preparing to flee the country and might attempt to flee again if released on bail.<\/p>\n

The court rejected his application.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Simon Peter Carman had not appeared before a judge until Friday’s hearing. (ABC News: Haidarr Jones)<\/p>\n

Trial could take ‘six to eight months’<\/p>\n

Ms Tunchanok was last seen alive on CCTV walking hand in hand with Mr Carman into the elevators of his condo building about 3:30am on June 25.<\/p>\n

Mr Carman was captured on CCTV later that night dragging a large suitcase out of his room and then transporting it on the back of a motorcycle.<\/p>\n

Two days later, police found Ms Tunchanok’s body inside a suitcase that had been dumped along railway tracks near Mr Carman’s accommodation.<\/p>\n

\"CCTV<\/p>\n

CCTV captured what police allege is Simon Carman riding a motorcycle with a suitcase strapped on the back. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr Carman was represented in court by lawyer Sorasit Pongin, who told the ABC he had been retained by the 45-year-old’s mother.<\/p>\n

“He denies all charges,” the lawyer said.<\/p>\n

“This case will likely take a considerable amount of time \u2026 roughly six to eight months starting from today.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sorasit Pongin represented Simon Peter Carman in court. (ABC News: Haidarr Jones)<\/p>\n

Evidence to be examined at next court date<\/p>\n

Mr Carman was arrested at Bangkok’s international airport on June 27 while trying to board a Jetstar flight to Perth.<\/p>\n

He has been held at the Pattaya Remand Prison since.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Simon Carman was escorted to court in a prison van. (ABC News: Haidarr Jones)<\/p>\n

During the hearing, the presiding judges allowed two Australian consular representatives to speak with Mr Carman.<\/p>\n

Tears ran down his face during the meeting.<\/p>\n

Media were restricted from reporting much of what was said inside the court.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A guard outside Pattaya Provincial Court. (ABC News: Haidarr Jones)<\/p>\n

As he left the courthouse, Mr Carman told reporters he had lost about 30 kilograms since his detention began.<\/p>\n

The next court date is set for October 12.<\/p>\n

That hearing is expected to examine the evidence provided by both sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Australian man accused of murdering a Thai teenager has been denied bail after prosecutors argued he could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[465644,1108,48,43,37896,2968,44,236969,465645,364604,465643,3725,41,39,42,40,430172],"class_list":["post-896528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accused-murder","tag-court","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-killing","tag-murder","tag-news","tag-pattaya","tag-peter-carman","tag-simon-carman","tag-thai-teenager","tag-thailand","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tunchanok-donhomla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896528","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=896528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}