Warning: Graphic content The family of a 17-year-old Thai girl whose body was found in a suitcase in a resort city are “devastated”, her stepmother said Monday, as authorities charged an Australian man for her murder. “I never imagined she would be gone this quickly,” Orradee Bussarakham told AFP by phone. “We didn’t get to say goodbye.” Orradee and the girl’s father, Thongchai Donhomla, were in Bangkok on Monday to collect the body, which was found near a railway track in the seaside resort city of Pattaya early on Saturday. “Like her dad, I’m devastated. Although I’m her stepmother, I feel like I just lost a child of my own,” Orradee said. A 45-year-old Australian, Simon Peter Carman, has been charged with premeditated murder in the case, Police Lieutenant Colonel Kosala Ngampong told AFP. Carman was arrested at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Friday night as he prepared to board a flight back to Australia, after the victim’s friend had reported her missing. He faces charges of premeditated murder, “taking a minor (for sexual purposes)” and concealment of a body -- all of which he has denied, Kosala said. Carman is held at a Pattaya jail while the case is referred to prosecutors. Under Thai law, premeditated murder carries a penalty of life imprisonment or death, the latter rarely enforced. CCTV footage showed Carman entering a condominium in Pattaya with the girl in the early hours of Thursday, and leaving that evening carrying a large black suitcase, police said. Kosala said Carman had loaded the suitcase onto a motorcycle and rode to a grassy area near a railway line in the city. Police found the suitcase early Saturday near a railway track, discovering inside the victim’s body which bore signs of violence. The girl had left her home in Kalasin province, in Thailand’s northeast, for Pattaya on June 16, Orradee said. She described her stepdaughter as a cheerful, sociable girl with a wide circle of friends who would also help her sell garlands and fruits at a roadside stall. “She would always bring the family together for mookata (Thai barbecue),” Orradee recalled. Safety fears Popular with foreign tourists, Pattaya is known for its beaches and a nightlife scene that has long drawn scrutiny over sex tourism. Nattakamol Chartmontri, 48, a massage therapist who has worked on the city’s beaches for two decades, said the teenager’s murder has “affected Pattaya’s image.” “I’m worried about safety,” she told AFP. “After so many years handling tourists as a masseuse, I know how to handle myself around them. But some people who just moved here recently may not.” Thailand drastically cut the length of visa-free stays for tourists last month following a series of high-profile arrests of foreigners over drug offences, sex trafficking and operating unlicenced businesses. “With social media and visa schemes that allow foreigners to visit Thailand easily, I feel that the quality of foreign tourists has decreased,” Nattakamol said. “I want Pattaya to be safe and peaceful... like before.” Pattaya native Sutthipong Suraprasert, a 35-year-old beach vendor, said he had followed the case closely. “There is no excuse for it,” he told AFP, adding: “I’ve seen some foreign tourists come here and cause trouble -- getting drunk, fighting, causing chaos.” By Chayanit Itthipongmaetee.
