‘I shouldn’t be here’: Australian man accused of killing Thai teenager says he is innocent

The Australian man charged with the murder of Thai teenager Thanchanok Donhomla has said he acted in self-defence to stop her from stabbing him.

Speaking exclusively to the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program from prison in Thailand, where he has been detained for nearly two months, Simon Carman said he hadn’t done anything wrong and was “hoping and praying” to be released.

“I shouldn’t be here … I do not understand what’s going on,” Carman told the ABC, adding that he was innocent and did not intend to kill the 17-year-old.

Carman, from Perth, is being held in Pattaya, about 150 kilometres south of Bangkok. He has been charged with murdering Thanchanok and stuffing her body into a suitcase that he later discarded near railway tracks.

In addition to murder, Carman faces charges of concealing a corpse and abducting a minor for indecent purposes.

He is likely to face a death sentence or life in prison if found guilty, a Thai legal expert told this masthead in July .

Carman told the ABC he had met Thanchanok on the street, and she had then followed him back to his apartment.

He said he had “honestly no idea” why she had followed him and said he had no recollection of entering the building holding her hand, as shown in CCTV footage.

When they got to his room, Carman said he “gave her 500 baht ($21) … for nothing. And she wanted more money, and then she pulled a knife”.

A physical struggle ensued, Carman said, during which Thanchanok “went limp”. He said he had not called the emergency services because he “didn’t trust the police”.

“I feel deeply sad. I obviously wish it never happened, but it was unavoidable,” Carman told the ABC. “All I was trying to do was restrain her from stabbing me.”

Carman said he had pleaded not guilty and was innocent of all the charges against him. He added that he did not have a lawyer and had not received any visitors other than Australian embassy staff.

Family members of Thanchanok, including her father and a great-aunt, have called for Carman to face the strongest possible penalty if found guilty.

“A life for a life,” 75-year-old Mee Boonsert, one of two great aunts who helped bring up Thanchanok, told this masthead in July.