\n<\/p>\n
Carman denied murder and further charges related to moving or concealing a body and taking a minor for sexual purposes, and claimed he had acted in self defence.<\/p>\n
Media reports state that Carman told police he had agreed to pay Donholma 1,000 baht (\u00a323, US$30, A$43) for sexual services, but that they had an argument when they returned to his apartment and he offered only 500 baht. <\/p>\n
Thai police told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that Carman also claimed Donhomla had “disappeared from the room” while he was asleep.<\/p>\n
In a video recorded while he was in custody, the suspect issued a message to the Donholma’s family, saying: “I feel bad for what happened to your daughter. It was out of my control.”<\/p>\n
“I know you’ll be very sad, upset\u2026 same [as] me.”<\/p>\n
He added: “Please tell other girls\u2026 just to be careful.”<\/p>\n
Colonel Anek Srathongyoo, Superintendent of the Pattaya City Police Station, told the ABC that Carman “has fingernail scratches across his body that are consistent with a struggle, but he denies killing her”.<\/p>\n
In another police video clip Carman is seen being asked about the scratch marks. <\/p>\n
“I think it’s a spider; they always get in here,” he replies.<\/p>\n
Donhomla’s family told the ABC she was an only child who lived with her father and step-mother in the province of Kalasin, about 480km northeast of Pattaya. The teen, whose nickname was Cake, had told her parents she wanted to go on holiday with a friend, and had travelled to Pattaya on 16 June.<\/p>\n
Her father, Thongchai Donhomla, said he was “deeply saddened” by his daughter’s death. <\/p>\n
“My daughter had no mother, so whenever she wanted anything, she would find a way herself, and she always helped me too,” he told a local reporter.<\/p>\n
Her step-mother, Oradee Bussarakum, said: “We were scared. We just hoped it wouldn’t turn out the way we feared. Now our eyes are swollen from crying.”<\/p>\n
“I just want him executed … I even asked the police if I could hit him, if I could beat him,” she added.<\/p>\n
If convicted of murder, Carman could face the death penalty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n