The heartbroken father of a 17-year-old Thai girl whose body was found stuffed inside a suitcase has issued a defiant message to her accused murderer.
Australian man Simon Peter Carman, 45, was arrested just moments before boarding a flight to Perth last week, where he was hit with a raft of charges, including murder, concealing and moving a body, and abducting a minor for indecent purposes.
Police allege the Ballarat-born man folded Tunchanok Donhomla’s body into a 29-inch suitcase and dumped it in long grass beside the railway tracks, approximately 2.6 miles from where he was staying.
Carman denies these charges and claims he acted in self-defence following an alleged dispute between the pair over 500 baht ($23).
The family of Donhomla has repeatedly called for her alleged killer to be subject to the full force of the law.
In Thailand, a murder conviction can result in either life imprisonment or the death penalty via lethal injection.
Donhomla’s father, Thongchai, said the family would not be pursuing or accepting compensation from Carman if he were found guilty.
The Thai legal system takes mitigating factors into account when sentencing an offender, meaning people facing charges are able to pay victims or their families as a show of remorse.
In some cases, the restitution can significantly reduce jail time.
However, Donhomla has quashed any chance of reduced time for the accused, saying he would be letting the “legal system take its course.”
“Even though I am poor, I will not trade my daughter’s dignity for money,” Donhomla told the ABC.
“I love my daughter so much.”
Carman facing ‘detrimental’ choice
News.com.au previously revealed that Carman could be looking at legal fees upwards of $130,000 or several million baht.
If he is unable to pay these fees, he will be given a court-appointed lawyer, which sources say could be “detrimental” to his case.
“Under Thai law, intentional killing is very serious,” said Luca Bernardinetti, Chairman and Managing Partner of Mahnakorn Partners Group (MPG).
“Thai courts may consider mitigating factors such as a confession, co-operation, remorse, voluntary surrender or steps taken to reduce harm,” he told news.com.au.
“But you cannot erase murder with a donation.”
Bernardinetti said the Australian Embassy did not pay for, or provide legal counsel to, citizens accused of crimes.
“It’s a very expensive case, and costs vary significantly on language requirements, forensic evidence, trial length, prison visits, and the seniority of their representation,” he said.
“Most court appointed lawyers have a poor understanding of the English language, it’s a big problem.”
Bizarre messages reveal Carman’s psyche
A sex worker claims she was messaging with Carman while Donhomla’s body was allegedly hidden in the bathroom of his Pattaya apartment.
“I’m so tired,” Carman texted her, according to 7News.
“I’m going to go for a swim today.”
The woman is said to have panicked upon hearing hours later that Carman had been arrested after a body was found in a suitcase.
Just weeks earlier, the accused killer was involved in an aggressive text exchange with a Thai woman following a motorbike accident.
Khanittha Thongsuknmag, 53, said she crossed paths with Carman on June 5 when they were involved in an accident outside the Jomtien Condominium apartment complex, where they were both staying.
Recounting their interactions to the Australian Associated Press, the woman described Carman as “King Kong.”
“He was angry, angry,” she said.
Messages between the pair show Carman threatening Thongsuknmag to buy him a wheelchair, promising he will otherwise “make sure big trouble.”
When Thongsuknmag tried to apologise and told him her insurance would cover the costs, he called her “stupid and dopey,” according to the WhatsApp exchange.
“I have to see specialist in Pattaya. I need taxi!! you can pay, you evil b***h,” another message said.
Thongsuknmag said she paid Carman 2000 baht ($87) at the behest of the police, but he continued to demand more money for a wheelchair.
“I blocked his number,” she said.
That same month, Carman invited a Thai mother-of-two to his apartment, an experience she described as “stinky” and “musty.”
According to the Daily Mail, Tang Chai, 43, encountered Carman at a 7-Eleven near his condo after moving to Pattaya from the same rural province as Donhomla.
“Simon said hello at 7-Eleven and asked for my number,” Chai told the outlet.
“He sent me messages on WhatsApp [that] same day and ask me out for a date.”
The following day, Carman allegedly booked Chai for an hour the next day.
“The room was so stinky, smelled musty. It was very strong and messy everywhere,” she said.
According to the outlet, Chai said he was “too fat” to complete the sex act.
Chai said Carman paid her 3500 baht fee ($150) without question.
The pair continued to text following their meeting, but when Chai asked if he’d like another booking, Carman refused.
“If you’d like to see me again, you can call me,” she wrote.
“No, 3,500 is a scam,” he replied.
Chai told the outlet that she was “so scared” when she saw Carman on the news.
“I could not sleep for three days thinking about what happened to the girl. I feel sick and worry it [could have] happened to me.”
Accused killer ‘regularly’ brought girls home
Carman was reportedly paying $100 a week in rent at the Pattaya apartment where police allege Donhomla lost her life.
Photos of Carman’s small room were seen last week, after a friend of Donhomla went to confront the Aussie over her friend’s disappearance.
Inside the room were piles of clothing stacked on the couch and an ironing board, as well as loose documents scattered across the table and empty spirit bottles.
Sources claimed that Carman “regularly” brought Thai women back to his apartment, occasionally asking them to “clean his room.”
“She (Tunchanok) was the youngest, but they were all young,” one source told The Daily Telegraph.
Others at the apartment block claimed that young women visited the flat at least once a month, and that he was “respectful” towards them.
“Sometimes he just asked them to clean his room and for a massage, and he would pay 2000 baht ($86),” another source told the outlet.
Messages released by police following Donhomla’s death showed the teen had texted her friends upon her arrival at Carman’s apartment.
“I’ve arrived at [his] apartment. The room is so messy,” it read.
Pattaya City Police Colonel Anek Srathongyu said it was sent so her friends knew “she had arrived so they didn’t have to worry.”
Carman had reportedly been “rejected” by another sex worker earlier that night before he approached Donhomla and her friends around 3 a.m.
CCTV footage captured Donhomla and Carman walking from the Pattaya beachfront, a well-known area frequented by sex workers, and entering the foyer of his accommodation together at approximately 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 26.
Police have confirmed the teen was killed just 30 minutes later at 4 a.m.
At around 9 p.m., Carman was allegedly seen on camera leaving the building alone with the large black suitcase, which he transported by motorbike.
Along with her body, police found the white Onitsuka trainers she had been wearing that night, jeans, underwear, a mobile phone case, a wallet, and her gold bracelet and necklace.
Tattoos on her back, arms, chest, and left leg were confirmed to match those in her social media images.
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