Pattaya prosecutors have formally indicted Australian national Simon Peter Carman on four charges in the Pattaya suitcase murder case involving a Thai teenager whose body was found inside a suitcase near railway tracks in June.
The Pattaya Provincial Prosecutor’s Office filed the case with Pattaya Provincial Court yesterday, September 17, with Carman charged with intentional murder, concealing or moving a body to hide a death or its cause, and two offences involving taking a minor for sexual purposes.
The court scheduled Carman to enter his plea today, September 18. Australian media reported this morning that he appeared before the court and continued to deny wrongdoing.
The Pattaya suitcase murder case dates back to June 25, when the 17 year old girl was reported missing after entering a condominium in the Jomtien area with Carman.
Police later traced CCTV footage showing the pair entering the building together. Investigators alleged that Carman was subsequently recorded leaving alone with a large black suitcase and transporting it by motorcycle towards railway tracks elsewhere in Pattaya.
The teenager’s body was later discovered inside a suitcase beside the railway line.
Carman was located at Suvarnabhumi International Airport as he prepared to leave Thailand and was taken back to Pattaya for questioning. Police later charged him and continued gathering forensic, CCTV and other evidence before submitting the case to prosecutors.
An autopsy subsequently found that the teenager died from suffocation and had suffered a brain injury, according to Pattaya police. Investigators also said DNA collected from Carman matched DNA found on the victim’s body.
Carman has maintained that he did not intentionally kill the teenager. In an interview from Pattaya Remand Prison last month, he claimed that the pair became involved in a struggle and that he acted in self-defence after she allegedly threatened him with a knife.
Those claims have not been tested by the court.
The indictment marks the latest stage in a case that has remained under investigation since late June. Police completed their inquiry in August and forwarded the evidence to prosecutors ahead of the September deadline for deciding whether to proceed with charges.
The case will now proceed through Pattaya Provincial Court. Carman remains presumed innocent unless and until convicted by a final judgment.
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