A 45-year-old Australian man accused of murdering a Thai teenager and dumping her body in a suitcase had previous run-ins with the law.
The 17-year-old was found stuffed in a large suitcase in grassy scrubland near the railway tracks in Pattaya late last week, according to local reporting.
She was allegedly murdered by 45-year-old Australian national Simon Peter Carman, who has been charged with murder, concealment of a body, moving or destroying a body, and taking a minor aged between 15 and 18 for sexual purposes.
More details have now emerged about the accused killer, including that he lived in a storage unit in Perth and was previously known to Western Australia police, according to 9News.
Carman was believed to have been born in Ballarat, but was said to be living in a unit at an industrial complex south of Perth — on and off — for the past 10 years.
9News reported that Carman had several run-ins with the law over that time, including being fined $900 in court last year for driving without a license.
He was also charged last September for disorderly behaviour in public, a charge that was eventually dropped.
Neighbouring businesses near the complex told 9News that Carman mostly kept to himself, but "could sometimes be quite hostile to other workers, particularly when it came to parking around this complex", 9News reporter Amanda Sabatino said.
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".
Australian man Simon Peter Carman, 45, has spoken after being charged with the murder of 17-year-old Tunchanok Donhomla in Thailand. (Source: Nine)
"It was out of my control," he said. "Um, I hope you – I know you'll be very sad, upset; same-same me."
Carman previously claimed to have acted in self-defence when the teenager allegedly threatened him with a kitchen knife during an argument.
CCTV allegedly showed 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.
Donhomla's father and stepmother expressed their anguish in an interview with Reuters yesterday, saying whoever killed her should be executed.
The death penalty was a potential sentence for a murder conviction in Thailand.
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