Australian charged with murder after teen girl's body found in suitcase in Thailand

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - BANGKOK — An Australian man has been charged with murder after the body of a teenage girl was found in a suitcase in Thailand.

Thai police said the man, identified as Simon Peter Carman, 46, has denied the charges against him.

In video footage of Carman in custody obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and other media, Carman says what occurred was “out of my control”.

Local Thai media have reported the alleged crime began with a disagreement over money.

Police in the coastal city of Pattaya said they found Tunchanok Donhomla's body "stuffed" in the bag, which had been discarded near a railway track, in the early hours of Saturday.

They said Carman was arrested at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport Friday evening in connection with the disappearance of Donhomla, 17, as he was allegedly "preparing to flee the country".

After questioning Carman Saturday morning, local police in Pattaya found a naked body in a suitcase near railway tracks, which they identified as Donhomla.

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.

Carman denied the charges. In a message issued to the victim's family after his arrest, Carman said: "I feel bad for what happened to your daughter. It was out of my control."

Pattaya City Police said the girl had been reported missing at 17:00 local time (12:00 GMT) on Friday.

In a statement on social media, the force said it reviewed CCTV footage that allegedly showed Carman entering a condominium with Donholma at 03:34 on Thursday. Late that evening, he emerged alone "carrying a large suitcase".

The statement said he loaded the bag onto a motorbike before driving toward a railway line.

Officers questioned and arrested Carman at the airport in Bangkok, some 150km (93 miles) north of Pattaya, at 01:15 on Saturday.

The teenager's body was found in a suitcase about 15 minutes later, the force said.

Media reports state that Carman told police he had agreed to pay Donholma 1,000 baht (£23, US$30, A$43) for sexual services, but that they had an argument when they returned to his apartment and he offered only 500 baht.

Thai police told the ABC that Carman also claimed Donhomla had "disappeared from the room" while he was asleep.

In a video recorded while he was in custody, the suspect issued a message to the Donholma's family, saying: "I feel bad for what happened to your daughter. It was out of my control."

Colonel Anek Srathongyoo, Superintendent of the Pattaya City Police Station, told the ABC that Carman "has fingernail scratches across his body that are consistent with a struggle, but he denies killing her".

In another police video clip Carman is seen being asked about the scratch marks.

"I think it's a spider; they always get in here," he replies.

Donhomla's family told the ABC she was an only child who lived with her father and step-mother in the province of Kalasin, about 480km northeast of Pattaya. The teen, whose nickname was Cake, had told her parents she wanted to go on holiday with a friend, and had travelled to Pattaya on 16 June.

Her father, Thongchai Donhomla, said he was "deeply saddened" by his daughter's death.

"My daughter had no mother, so whenever she wanted anything, she would find a way herself, and she always helped me too," he told a local reporter.

Her step-mother, Oradee Bussarakum, said: "We were scared. We just hoped it wouldn't turn out the way we feared. Now our eyes are swollen from crying."

"I just want him executed ... I even asked the police if I could hit him, if I could beat him," she added.