ACCUSED TEEN KI-L-LER SIMON PETER CARMAN REPORTEDLY LOST MORE THAN 30KG BEFORE RETURNING TO PATTAYA 💥 NEW DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT HIS LIFE BEFORE THE ALLEGED MU-RDER
The Australian man accused of murdering a Thai teenage girl has been described as being “creepy” and “a bit abnormal” as more details of his split life between Australia and Thailand emerge.
Simon Peter Carman, 45, is currently in Pattaya Prison waiting for the police to complete their investigation into claims he killed 17-year-old Tunchanok Donhomla after picking her up on the street near Jomtien Beach. It is alleged he stuffed her naked body into a suitcase before dumping it at a railway line near his apartment complex, Jomtien Condominium.
Mr Carman, who was born in Ballarat in Victoria, had been a regular at the apartment blocks for almost a decade where he reportedly paid $100 a week in rent.
Selfies posted on Mr Carman’s Telegram account, seen by news.com.au, show a dramatic transformation between July 2024 and August 2025.
According to News National Network, he underwent a Biggest Loser-style transformation in the lead up to his alleged crime.
He reportedly shed more than 30kg before returning to the popular Thai city on his most recent stint.
“We used to call him ‘Big Boy’,” a source told the publication.
“He lost a lot of weight, at least 30kg. Maybe more.”
Simon Peter Carman, 45, is accused of killing 17-year-old Thai girl Tunchanok Donhomla. Picture: Pattaya News
Another source told the publication Mr Carman had few friends in Pattaya, despite the large community of Australians and Brits who stayed there.
“I knew him. When I saw it on the news, I knew he came in here,” they said, adding, “I wouldn’t buy him a beer.”
A woman who worked nearby and spoke with Mr Carmen described him as a “bit abnormal”.
“He seemed a bit abnormal to me because he speaks slowly and looks at things for a long time,” the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“But he lived like a normal expat here, going swimming, ordering food and eating out. I noticed that when he couldn’t sleep at night, he liked to go walking along the beach.”
Those who knew Mr Carman described him as a medicine-riddled loner who was prone to aggressive outbursts.
The former mechanic reportedly shed more than 30kg before returning to Pattaya on his most recent stint. Picture: Telegram
“He lived like a pig,” one neighbour living in Australia told The Australian.
“He was on a lot of meds, so when you spoke to him he was always as dopey as f**k.”
Mr Carman had moved from Ballarat to Jerramungup, a small agricultural town about 450km southeast of Perth, according to The West Australian.
He briefly worked in the agricultural sector, where he operated as a sole trader.
“He worked on a farm when he was younger,” a neighbour told news.com.au.
A source told the Herald Sun they used to call him ‘Big Boy’. Picture: Telegram
The source said ‘he lost a lot of weight, at least 30kg. Maybe more’. Picture: Telegram
He later moved to Albany with his family before settling down in Rockingham, where he reportedly worked as a mechanic and truck driver.
His wife and daughter, however, found him “creepy” and told him not to have any more contact with them.
For around a decade leading up to his departure for Thailand, he had been living on and off in a unit inside an industrial estate in Rockingham.
He reportedly lived off a disability pension and workers’ compensation payments linked to injuries he suffered as a truck driver.
He allegedly killed the teen in his apartment, stuffed her body in a suitcase, transported it on the back of a scooter, and dumped it a short distance away. Picture: Pattaya News
He had been coming to Thailand, on and off, for almost a decade and always stayed at the same apartment block (pictured). He was paying round $100 a week in rent.
Previous neighbours of Mr Carman said they were “really shocked” to hear news of the 45-year-old’s arrest.
Casuarina resident Shelley said Mr Carman mostly kept to himself but was known to socialise with other neighbours, according to the West Australian.
Another neighbour described the allegations as “horrifying.”
“You’re not born a killer, you’re made a killer. So something flicked the switch in his brain to (allegedly) make him do that,” she said.
“A lot of times most of us just keep to ourselves … that’s really it.”
According to one man, who spoke to news.com.au on the condition of anonymity, Mr Carman had pins in his spine and neck from a suspected motor accident in his 20s.
“He was going to Thailand to have the pins removed because they had been causing him pain. No one in Australia would remove them,” he said.
A back rod is typically used to treat severe spinal fractures or progressive spinal deformities by stabilising the spine so that vertebrae can fuse together.
Simon Carman seen walking into his apartment complex with Tunchanok Donhomla. Picture: Pattaya News
CCTV allegedly shows the 45-year-old in his apartment lobby with a suitcase believed to contain the remains of Tunchanok Donhomla, who he allegedly murdered.
Pattaya police and Suvarnabhumi Immigration arrested the Australian man for allegedly murdering the 17-year-old and stuffing her body into a suitcase. Picture: Facebook
The surgery can take between one and five hours, and recovery often takes upwards of 12 months.
The Rockingham local said the community was “shocked” by the news, saying Mr Carman “didn’t appear to be violent in any manner”.
“No one expected it. He never got into any trouble,” he told news.com.au.
“Something has happened.”
Mr Carman reportedly had a collection of guns – a .22 calibre Hornet rifle and a shotgun – which he said were stored in a box along with ammunition, in a breach of gun storage laws.
Mr Carman reportedly had a collection of guns which police took from him around a year before he left for Thailand. His driver’s licence was also revoked around the same time. Picture: The Australian
Police took Mr Carman’s guns from him around a year before he left for Thailand. His driver’s licence was also revoked around the same time.
“It was scary when he had guns,” one man told The Australian.
“He had lots of guns and all that, and I was a bit concerned in case he snapped. It was good that the police took them off him.”
Timeline of events
CCTV footage captured Ms Tunchanok and Mr Carman walking from the Pattaya beachfront, a well-known area frequented by sex workers, and entering the foyer of his accommodation together at approximately 3.30am on Thursday, June 26.
Several hours later, Mr Carman was allegedly seen on camera leaving the building alone with the large black suitcase, which he transported by motorbike.
Police allege he folded the teenager’s naked body into the 29-inch suitcase and dumped it in long grass beside the railway tracks, approximately 4.2km from the property, before attempting to leave the country.
Officers arrested him at Suvarnabhumi Airport minutes before his Jetstar flight JQ76 to Perth was scheduled to depart.
Investigators located the suitcase with Ms Tunchanok inside.
The investigation is ongoing.
