Simon Peter Carman, the Australian man charged with murdering Thai teenager Tunchanok Donhomla, has claimed he acted in self-defence to stop her from stabbing him.
The 45-year-old spoke exclusively to the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program in a private visitors’ room at Pattaya Remand Prison, where he has been detained for almost two months.
“I’m hoping and praying that I get released,” he said.
“I have not done anything wrong. I shouldn’t be here … I do not understand what’s going on.”
Tunchanok Donhomla, 17, was found dead in a suitcase after meeting with Simon Carman. (Supplied: Pattaya police)
Thai police have accused Mr Carman of picking up the 17-year-old along Pattaya’s popular Beach Road in the early hours of June 25, then killing her and discarding the body.
In a 30-minute interview, conducted under the close watch of a prison guard, Mr Carman claimed he was innocent and said he did not intend to kill the teenager.
“I feel deeply sad. I obviously wish it never happened, but it was unavoidable,” he said.
“All I was trying to do was restrain her from stabbing me.”
The Pattaya Remand Prison houses 3,200 inmates, including 200 foreigners. (ABC News: Haidarr Jones)
The ABC is the first foreign news organisation in at least 15 years to receive permission to interview a foreign inmate in a Thai prison. The interview was permitted on the condition that prison officials could review the ABC’s footage for security reasons, and that prison conditions were not discussed. The interview was carried out with Mr Carman’s consent.
The 45-year-old faces four charges including murder, concealing a corpse, and abducting a minor for indecent purposes.
If found guilty of murder, he faces the death penalty or life in prison.
“I pled not guilty and I remain not guilty of all four charges,” Mr Carman said.
Simon Carman told the ABC he was not guilty. (ABC News: Haidarr Jones)
Mr Carman told the ABC he did not have a lawyer yet and had not received any visitors apart from Australian embassy officials.
Thai police wrapped up their investigation last week and intend to pass the case to prosecutors today.
Tunchanok Donhomla’s father, Thongchai Donhomla, said he wanted Mr Carman to receive a life sentence or the death penalty to “serve as a lesson for others”.
“I want Simon to receive the harshest punishment because I have lost my child,” he told the ABC in an interview last week.
Carman says pair fought over money
Ms Tunchanok, known affectionately by her friends and family as “Cake”, was last seen alive on June 25.
CCTV captured her walking hand-in-hand with Mr Carman into the elevators of his condo building.
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It later captured Mr Carman dragging a large suitcase out of the building and transporting it on a motorcycle at night.
Two days later, police found Ms Tunchanok’s body in the suitcase, which had been dumped along railway tracks near Mr Carman’s accommodation.
Mr Carman was arrested at Bangkok’s international airport on June 27 while trying to board a flight to Perth, and has been in Thai police custody since.
Thai police arrested Simon Carman at Bangkok’s international airport on June 27. (Pattaya Provincial Police / Reuters)
In the interview with Foreign Correspondent, Mr Carman maintained he had acted in self-defence.
Mr Carman said he first met Ms Tunchanok on the street, where she was accompanied by two friends. He said the 17-year-old then followed him back to his accommodation.
“I honestly do not know why she followed me home,” he added.
When the ABC told him there was CCTV showing them entering the building holding hands, Mr Carman said: “I cannot remember that, but if it was hand-in-hand, I believe you.”
Simon Carman pictured after he was arrested in Thailand. (AP/ViralPress)
He said he was not aware Ms Tunchanok was a minor at the time, and believed she was roughly 25 to 35 years old.
Mr Carman said when they got to his room he “gave her 500 baht ($21) … for nothing. And she wanted more money and then she pulled a knife”.
He said he repeatedly asked Ms Tunchanok to “put down the knife” during a physical struggle, and that eventually “she went limp”.
When asked if he had called anyone, including an ambulance, Mr Carman said he had not because he “didn’t trust the police”.
CCTV captured what police allege is Simon Carman riding a motorcycle with a suitcase strapped on the back. (Supplied)
Family ‘deeply heartbroken’ by case
Pattaya Police Colonel Anek Srathongyoo said his investigation team would submit its case file to the Pattaya prosecutor’s office today.
Prosecutors will then have until September 18 to indict Mr Carman.
Tunchanok Donhomla, 17, was from the Kalasin province in Thailand. (Supplied: Pattaya Police)
“The autopsy report said that Cake had a brain injury and she suffocated. She had no other injuries,” Police Colonel Anek told the ABC last week.
“We also collected Simon [Carman’s] DNA and matched it to DNA found on Cake’s body.”
Mr Thongchai told the ABC he was “deeply heartbroken” by the case.
“I always told my child to be a good person, never to cheat or harm anyone. But if a bad situation happens, I always told her never to back down to anyone and to fight to the very end,” he said.
“I don’t ask for much. I just hope my child gets the justice she deserves.”
Police timeline of case:June 25, 3:34am: CCTV footage from a condo lobby shows Mr Carman and Ms Tunchanok walking hand-in-hand and entering an elevator.June 25, 9:25pm to 9:48pm: CCTV captures Mr Carman dragging a large suitcase out of his room and leaving the condo on a motorcycle with the suitcase strapped to the back. He then sped alongside the railway tracks, disappearing from view for nine minutes.June 25, 9:57pm to 10:06pm: CCTV footage shows Mr Carman returning to the accommodation.June 26, 11:36am: One of Ms Tunchanok’s friends lodges a missing person report, telling police they last saw her with a foreign man.June 26, 2:26pm: Mr Carman is seen leaving his condo.June 26, no time provided: Police gather evidence to request an arrest warrant from the Pattaya Court. Officers find Mr Carman’s passport during the inspection of a hotel room.June 27, 1:15am: Investigative teams from the Pattaya City Police Station and the Immigration Bureau arrest Mr Carman at Suvarnabhumi Airport.June 27, 1:30am: Police discover a suitcase near railway tracks about a 10-minute drive from Mr Carman’s hotel, which contains Ms Tunchanok’s body.
Source: Pattaya City Police Station. The exact timings are unclear, as this timeline contains some discrepancies from previous reports.