{"id":499508,"date":"2026-06-28T11:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T11:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/499508\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T11:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T11:43:15","slug":"feel-bad-australian-man-charged-in-thailand-accused-of-gruesome-suitcase-murder-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/499508\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Feel bad\u2019: Australian man charged in Thailand accused of gruesome suitcase murder speaks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">A friend reported the teen missing after walking off with a man, with police tracking her using CCTV footage and seeing her enter the Australian\u2019s building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe believe he killed her, and he is being questioned on suspicion of murder,\u201d the Colonel said before more charges were laid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHe has fingernail scratches across his body that are consistent with a struggle, but he denies killing her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">The Bangkok Post reports police found signs of a struggle at Carman\u2019s condominium, as well as his passport, and authorities then arrested him at the airport attempting to buy a ticket to Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">The Post reported Carman told police he had not known the 17-year-old before they met and he agreed to pay 1000 baht ($53) \u201cfor her time\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">There was an argument over the price at Carman\u2019s room, The Post reported, \u201cafter which the suspect alleged that the girl picked up a knife to threaten him and demand more money\u201d, the major Thai outlet reports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHe claimed he then acted in self\u2011defence, grabbing her neck and causing her death. He insisted he had no intention to kill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">Carman claimed the situation was \u201cout of my control\u201d in a video taken after his arrest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI feel bad for what happened to your daughter; it was out of my control,\u201d he said in the video.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI know you will be very sad, upset, same me. It shouldn\u2019t happen and I hope you okay, I know you\u2019re not, but I hope.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">Carman also tried to explain scratches on his body during the footage, wearing a West Coast Eagles AFL jersey as he sat in the Thai police station.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI think it\u2019s a spider; they always get in here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cPlease tell other girls \u2026 just to be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">He was arrested before the body of the 17-year-old girl was discovered abandoned in a suitcase alongside a railway track in Pattaya.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">Footage from news outlet ASEAN Now shows police retrieving the suitcase from an area of tall grass, and bringing the bag to the roadside.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">Forensic police are seen taking swabs of the suitcase handle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">The footage is then blurred, but police can be seen opening the suitcase; its contents are not clear in the footage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">The teen was last seen entering a residential building in The Gulf coast city about 3.30am on Thursday, local time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">CCTV published by Thai media outlet Buzzin Pattaya shows the teenager holding hands with a man believed to be the arrested Australian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">It is alleged that the man had picked up the girl from Pattaya\u2019s Beach Road in the early hours, with friends reporting her missing on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">It is then reported Carman was arrested while attempting to board a plan in the Bangkok airport late on Friday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">At about 11pm local time on Friday, the teenager\u2019s naked body was found stuffed into a suitcase alongside a railway line \u2013 about 10 minutes from the hotel where she was last seen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">Police in Thailand have told Viral Press that the suspect has initially been charged with \u201ctaking a minor for the purpose of committing an indecent act\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">A Facebook post shared by Pattaya Police identified the girl as Tunchanok Donhomla, who was reported missing by a friend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">The lengthy post reads: \u201cPattaya City Police wishes to express its deepest condolences to the family of the (alleged) victim.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan on Sunday called the allegation \u201cabhorrent\u201d and said her thoughts are with the teenager\u2019s family and loved ones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWhat is alleged here is just terrible, terrible actions, and my thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the victim,\u201d Allan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThis is a matter being handled, as I\u2019m advised, by Thai police&#8230; I don\u2019t want to say anything that cuts across that investigation, other than to reiterate that this is an allegation of an abhorrent crime, and my thoughts are with the young girl\u2019s family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">Allan said she did not have any information on whether Carman is from Victoria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">A spokesperson for Australian authorities confirmed government departments were aware of the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to an Australian detained in Thailand,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cOwing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\">NewsWire has contacted Australian Federal Police who did not provide comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"NQVPqQgxO\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\">Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/subscription\/offers\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/subscription\/offers\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A friend reported the teen missing after walking off with a man, with police tracking her using CCTV&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1117,14466,1135,15435,13239,23552,10474,4522,35964,5504,6868,200891,22263,42,78,5158,4275,43,1118,3111,8213,312,33397,17213,34551,10706,4327,40,38,41,39,416,6923,102],"class_list":["post-499508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accused","tag-arrest","tag-australian","tag-bad","tag-charged","tag-claimed","tag-control","tag-feel","tag-feels","tag-following","tag-girl","tag-gruesome","tag-happened","tag-headlines","tag-in","tag-man","tag-murder","tag-news","tag-of","tag-out","tag-recorded","tag-says","tag-situation","tag-speaks","tag-suitcase","tag-teenage","tag-thailand","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-video","tag-what","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}