PATTAYA, Thailand – Australian national Simon Peter Carman, the 45-year-old man charged with the murder of 17-year-old Thai teenager Tunchanok Donhomla, who went by her nickname of Nong Cake, has reiterated claims that he acted solely in self-defence during an exclusive interview with ABC Australia’s Foreign Correspondent program conducted inside Pattaya Remand Prison.
Carman, who has been held in custody since late June 2026, told ABC he did not intend to kill the victim and is “hoping and praying” for his release. “I have not done anything wrong. I shouldn’t be here… I do not understand what’s going on,” he said in the 30-minute interview, which took place under the supervision of a prison guard in a visitors’ room. ABC reported that it was the first foreign news organisation granted permission to interview a foreign inmate in a Thai prison in many years.
According to Carman, he met Tunchanok near Pattaya’s Beach Road or Jomtien Beach area in the early hours of the 25th of June 2026. He claimed she was with two friends and later followed him to his condominium unit on the 15th floor of a complex in Jomtien. When confronted with CCTV footage showing the pair entering the building hand-in-hand around 3:34 a.m., Carman said he could not recall holding hands but accepted the evidence if accurate. He insisted he believed she was in her mid-20s or early 30s and was unaware she was a minor.
Carman told ABC that once inside his room, an argument erupted over payment. He said he had given her 500 baht (approximately AUD $21) “for nothing,” after an initial understanding of a higher amount, and that she then demanded more money before producing a knife. “All I was trying to do was restrain her from stabbing me,” he stated. He described repeatedly asking her to put the knife down during a physical struggle until “she went limp.” He expressed deep sadness, saying the outcome was “unavoidable” and that he wished it had never happened, while claiming he felt remorse for her family.
Thai-language and English-language Thai media have reported consistent accounts of Carman’s initial statements to police. After initially denying involvement and claiming the teenager “disappeared from the room while I was asleep,” he later provided a partial confession when confronted with CCTV evidence. He alleged that Tunchanok threatened him with a kitchen knife during a dispute over payment for sexual services, reports commonly cite an agreed 1,000 baht reduced to 500 baht, and that he choked or strangled her while trying to control the knife-wielding hand until she became motionless. He admitted placing her body in a suitcase and keeping it in the bathroom for more than a day before disposing of it. Police have viewed the self-defence claim skeptically, citing his failure to report the incident, concealment of the body and attempt to leave the country.
Tunchanok’s naked body was discovered in the early hours of the 27th of June 2026 inside a large black suitcase abandoned in long grass beside railway tracks approximately 4.2 kilometres from Carman’s condominium. Police described severe facial swelling and bruising, with blood flowing from her mouth and nose. Distinctive tattoos confirmed her identity. She had arrived in Pattaya only days earlier from Kalasin province in Thailand’s northeast and had texted friends that she was safe after arriving at the apartment.
An autopsy conducted in Bangkok, details of which were shared with ABC by Pattaya City Police Superintendent Colonel Anek Srathongyoo, determined that Tunchanok died from a brain injury and suffocation. There were no other significant injuries. Police also matched Carman’s DNA to samples found on her body. Early police statements and Thai media reports had indicated strangulation as the suspected cause, consistent with Carman’s own description of gripping her neck during the struggle.
CCTV footage allegedly shows Carman leaving the building alone later with the suitcase, loading it onto a motorbike and dumping it near the tracks before returning without it. He reportedly went about routine activities, shopping, eating and doing laundry, while the body remained in the suitcase in his room before he got rid of it, according to police. He was arrested at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in the early hours of the 27th of June as he prepared to board a Jetstar flight to Perth. Officers noted scratch marks on his neck and arms consistent with a struggle; Carman initially attributed them to a spider.
Carman faces charges of intentional murder, concealing and moving a body, and taking a minor aged between 15 and 18 for sexual purposes. In the ABC interview he maintained he had pleaded not guilty to all charges and remained innocent. He said he did not yet have a lawyer and had received no visitors other than Australian embassy officials.
Pattaya police have concluded their investigation and intended to pass the case file to prosecutors around the time of the interview. Under Thai law, a murder conviction can carry the death penalty or life imprisonment. The victim’s family has rejected the self-defence claims and called for the maximum penalty, hoping for the death penalty. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed it is providing consular assistance.
Carman’s account continues to centre on an unavoidable struggle in self-defence, while investigators point to forensic evidence, CCTV and his subsequent actions as the foundation of the prosecution case now heading to prosecutors expected around September 18th, although court dates and the overall court process is likely to take quite a while.
