An Australian man has been charged with homicide in Thailand, after a Thai teenager’s body was found stuffed in a suitcase and abandoned in the southeastern beachside city of Pattaya, a police official said in a video statement.
The suspect, Simon Peter Carman, was arrested on Saturday at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok as he was about to leave the country, according to a statement by the police in Pattaya.
The 17-year-old girl, who was reported missing on Friday, was last seen with a “foreign man” on Jomtien Beach, according to the police statement.
The teenager’s death and the suspect’s arrest were being covered as top news in both Australia and Thailand. The case has put a spotlight on Pattaya, a popular destination that has been notorious for its adult entertainment, but has tried to move past its reputation as a magnet for illicit sex tourism. Local media, including The Bangkok Post, reported that the dispute had been reportedly over the man’s payment for the teenager’s company.
The police said they reviewed CCTV footage at a condo near the beach that showed the girl walking into the building with a man. He was later seen in the footage leaving alone with a large black suitcase, before driving away on a motorcycle.
At around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, investigators found the suitcase in a thicket near railroad tracks, with the girl’s naked body crumpled up inside, according to the police.
Mr. Carman’s passport was found in the condo unit, the police said.
Anek Srathongyoo, a superintendent with the Pattaya police, told local reporters that Mr. Carman was facing charges including homicide, taking or transporting a minor for “indecent purposes” and concealing or destroying a corpse. The charges carry a maximum penalty of death, he said.
Mr. Anek told Reuters that the man told the police that he had not intended to kill the victim, but admitted to strangling her.
“He stated that they had an argument and, during the altercation, he strangled the woman,” Mr. Anek said, according to Reuters.
The teenager’s family told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that she had traveled from her home in Kalasin, a small city in the northeast, to Pattaya in mid-June, saying she was going on vacation with a friend.
She sometimes sold fruit or garlands on street corners to help out her family, but was not forced to work, her stepmother told the public broadcaster.
“We kept thinking — not our child. She’s smart and capable. She knows how to take care of herself,” the stepmother, Oradee Bussarakum, told Thai media.
ABC reported that Mr. Carman was from Western Australia and had previously worked as a truck driver.
Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, declined to comment on whether consular assistance was being provided, citing “privacy obligations,” but said it was a “horrific case.”
“I think we’ve all been horrified by what has happened, and our sympathy goes to the friends and family,” she said.
