A 45-year-old Australian man accused of murdering a 17-year-old girl in Thailand has told her family he feels “bad for what happened” to their daughter.
Simon Peter Carman was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Friday after Tunchanok Donhomla was reported missing.
Shortly after, police found a large suitcase near railway tracks, which contained a naked body identified as that of Tunchanok.
In a video recorded while he was in custody, Carman spoke directly down the camera and addressed Tunchanok’s family, saying he felt bad for “what happened to your daughter”.
“It was out of my control,” he said. “Um, I hope you — I know you’ll be very sad, upset; same-same me.
Carman has been charged with four offences; murder, concealment of a body, moving or destroying a body, and taking a minor aged between 15 and 18 for sexual purposes.
CCTV allegedly shows the 45-year-old walking hand in hand through his hotel lobby in Pattaya with a 17-year-old girl around 3.30am (local time) on Thursday.
Around 9.30pm that night, vision allegedly showed Carman leaving his hotel with a black suitcase, before strapping it to a scooter and riding to a railway line about 10 minutes away.
The girl’s body was found stuffed in a suitcase in grassy scrubland beside the track.
Carman reportedly also told authorities he acted in self-defence, alleging Tunchanok threatened him with a knife.
Speaking to Reuters outside a police station in Pattaya, Tunchanok’s father, Thongchai Donholma, said he was “deeply saddened” by his daughter’s death and said she was always helpful to him.
“We were scared. We just hoped it wouldn’t turn out the way we feared,” her stepmother, Oradee Bussarakum, said.
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