An Australian man arrested in Thailand in connection with the death of a 17-year-old girl has offered an unusual explanation for scratch marks found on his body. Simon Carman, 45, claimed to Thai detectives that the marks on his arm and neck were caused by spiders. The scratches were observed when police apprehended Carman as he attempted to leave the country on a flight back to Australia.
Carman had been living in a small apartment in Pattaya for approximately ten months. While Pattaya is a tropical coastal area with common insects, local spiders, often related to the Australian huntsman species, are generally not aggressive towards humans. The victim, Tunchanok Donhomla, was found deceased in a suitcase dumped near railway tracks. Social media photos of Ms. Donhomla show her with long, pointed fingernails.
Carman reportedly told police that his condo unit was “overrun with spiders which were ‘always coming in’.” This explanation has drawn comparisons to a 2012 case where Gerard Baden-Clay, convicted of murdering his wife, blamed caterpillar bites for scratches on his body.
Police allege that Carman was captured on CCTV footage moving a suitcase through his apartment building and loading it onto a motorbike. The body of Ms. Donhomla was discovered in a black suitcase a few hours after Carman's apprehension. He has been charged with murder, concealing a body, moving or destroying a body, and taking a minor between the ages of 15 and 18 for sexual purposes. He is currently being held in the hospital wing of Pattaya Remand Prison for his protection.
According to police, Carman stated that he acted in self-defense after Ms. Donhomla, who was 150cm tall, allegedly attacked him during a dispute over approximately AU$20. Colonel Anek Srathongyoo of Pattaya Police reported that Carman told them the girl used a knife to threaten him and that he squeezed her neck, causing her to lose consciousness. Carman claimed she died during this struggle and that he kept her body in the bathroom for a day.
Appearing emotional in police footage, Carman offered condolences to Ms. Donhomla's parents, stating he felt bad for what happened and that it was out of his control. When asked if he killed her, Carman initially responded with “Hey” and then stated, “No, no hurt.”
Friends of Ms. Donhomla reported that she had traveled from her hometown to Pattaya just 12 days before her death. She reportedly met Carman in the early hours of June 25 in a known nightlife area. CCTV footage shows them walking hand-in-hand later that morning and arriving at Carman's condominium. One friend of Ms. Donhomla confronted Carman after her disappearance, noting several empty bottles of alcohol in his apartment. Carman was arrested the following night while attempting to board a flight to Perth.