Parents of teenage girl found dead in a suitcase issue heartbreaking statement

The heartbroken parents of a teen girl found dead in a suitcase told of how the news floored them, telling reporters their worst fears had come true.

Tunchanok Donhomla was 17 when she vanished without a trace on June 25 in the Thai city of Pattaya. Police have since discovered her naked body, folded up in a suitcase and dumped alongside railway tracks. British-Australian man Simon Peter Carman, 45, has been charged with her murder, as well as concealment of a body, moving or destroying a body, and taking a minor aged between 15 and 18 for sexual purposes. Her parents have described being “shocked and speechless” over her gruesome death. “We never expected this. When they found her, we still hoped she was alive,” Her stepmother, Oradee Bussarakum, told Australian national broadcaster the ABC. Her father, Thongchai Donhomla, 46, described his daughter as helpful, kind and resourceful. He said: “My daughter had no mother, so whenever she wanted anything, she would find a way herself, and she always helped ⁠me too. He and Ms Oradee made the journey from their home in the northeast Thailand province of Kalasin to look for their daughter after her friends reported her missing on Friday. They told local Thai press that the 17-year-old had only been in the city for a few days before she was killed. “We were scared. We just hoped it wouldn’t turn out the way we feared,” Ms Oradee said, adding: “Now our eyes are swollen from crying.” Ms Oradee said her stepdaughter had travelled to Pattaya on June 16, telling her parents she wanted to go for a holiday with her friend.

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“She asked for money from her grandmother and she gave her some,” Ms Oradee said. “She said she wanted to see the sea,” Ms Oradee said.

“She sometimes helped her father and me by selling garlands or fruits at intersections on the road, during Songkran (water festival). We did not force her to work. She added: “She was still young, so sometimes we let her go out and gave her 50 (£1.13) to 100 (£2.27) baht.”

It was the teen’s first visit to the city notorious for its wild nightlife, but her parents let her go to visit with a friend.

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The man accused with her murder, Simon Carman, 45, was arrested at Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. Thai police claim he picked up the teenager from the Beach Road vice strip in Pattaya in the early hours of Thursday morning, with her friends reporting her missing on Friday after they did not hear from her. Once in custody, the British-born tradesman shared his condolences with her family, and said he felt bad for “what happened to your daughter”.

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“It was out of my control,” he said. “Um, I hope you — I know you’ll be very sad, upset; same-same me. “Um, it shouldn’t happen and I hope you’re OK. I know you’re not, but I hope. Um, and please tell other girls to be not — just to be careful, and not — I don’t wanna talk.”

Police do not believe his version of events in which he claims the teeenager “disappeared from the room while [he] was asleep”. Pattaya City Police Superintendent Colonel Anek Sarathongyu told reporters that Carman is being held on suspicion of murder and that he has visible defensive wounds on his neck consistent with a struggle.

“We believe he killed her, and he is being questioned on suspicion of murder,” Col Anek said, adding: “He has fingernail scratches across his body that are consistent with a struggle, but he denies killing her.”

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In video footage taken by police after his arrest, Carman claimed the scratches on his neck were caused by spiders. “I think it’s a spider; they always get in here,” he said. The Bangkok Post reports police found signs of a struggle at the hotel room occupied by the teen and Carman. As per the Post, Carman told police he had not known the 17-year-old before they met, and he agreed to pay 1000 baht – £22.68 – “for her time”. There was an argument over the price at Carman’s room, The Post reported, “after which the suspect alleged that the girl picked up a knife to threaten him and demand more money”, the major Thai outlet reports. “He claimed he then acted in self‑defence, grabbing her neck and causing her death. He insisted he had no intention to kill.”

If found guilty, Carman could face life in a Thai prison or the death penalty.