By KYLIE STEVENS, SENIOR BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA
Published: 00:09 BST, 24 August 2026 | Updated: 01:26 BST, 24 August 2026
An Australian truck driver accused of murdering a teenage girl in Thailand has broken his silence from behind bars to protest his innocence.
Simon Peter Carman, 45, from Perth's southern suburbs, could face the death penalty over the alleged murder of Tunchanok Donhomla, 17, also known as Cake.
Her naked body was found dumped inside a black suitcase near railway tracks on the outskirts of Pattaya on June 27, two days after she was last seen alive on CCTV with Carman in the foyer of his condo complex.
Carman was arrested at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport just minutes before he tried to board a Jetstar flight to Perth.
He insisted that he acted in self-defence and alleged that the teen attacked him with a knife during an argument over money.
'I feel deeply sad. I obviously wish that it did not happen, but it was unavoidable,' Carman told ABC's Foreign Correspondent from Pattaya Remand Prison.
'All I was trying to do is restrain her from stabbing me.
'Even when I had her pinned down, she still had a lot of force, trying to stab me.'
Simon Peter Carman has denied killing 17-year-old Thai teen Tunchanok Donhomla
The Australian truck driver (pictured behind bars) has claimed that he acted in self-defence
The teen's naked body was found inside a black suitcase dumped near railway tracks outside Pattaya on June 27 – two days after she was last seen
He claimed that he repeatedly asked the teen to 'put down the knife' during a physical struggle before she eventually 'went limp'.
Carman added that he felt a lot of remorse for Tunchanok's family.