Inside the Pattaya apartment building where Thai teen died in Perth truckie's filthy flat - and the chain of events that led from the sordid neon sex strip to her tragic dumping in a suitcase behind night markets

By CANDACE SUTTON, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 15:26, 30 June 2026 | Updated: 15:37, 30 June 2026 It is 24 minutes by road between the sordid Pattaya vice strip packed with go-go bars where Simon Carman met a 17-year-old girl, to his squalid flat where she died. Little did Thanchanok Donhomla know when met the 45-year-old truckie early last Thursday morning along the bustling street and walked off with him, that she would have just a few short hours of her already short life left to live. The distance from his grimy condo to the lonely spot beside a rail line where she was found is shorter, but by then 'Little Cake', as she was known, was oblivious; tragically dead and stuffed into a suitcase. The trip of 3.4km, which she spent folded inside the black bag and strapped across the back of Carman's rented Yamaha motorbike, took just nine minutes. She would not have felt the motion as the Aussie expat hefted the case and flung it behind the Pattaya Night Markets, where some of the food and clothing vendors were just shutting up shop. It would have taken some strength to toss it across the train tracks and down a slope, despite the diminutive girl's small frame and the 29-inch long bag having slid some of the way. There, Little Cake lay untouched in the long grass while overnight temperatures dipped no lower than 25 degrees. Carman took a little under 24 hours to clean up and get out of town, but was reportedly unhurried as he washed his clothes and talked to neighbours at his unit complex in the morning. 'Little Cake' was out on Pattaya's sin strip last Thursday evening and met up with Perth truckie Simon Carman around 2.30am before going back to his squalid condo where the 17-year-old died soon afterward From the sordid vice strip packed with go-go bars, nightclubs and girls (above) where Simon Carman met the 17-year-old back to the grimy flat where she died is 24 minutes by road From sex strip to death in a suitcase: 17-year-old 'Little Cake' had been in Pattaya 12 days when she was picked up by Perth truckie Simon Carman, taken to his dirty flat where she died, driven on the back of his motorbike in a suitcase to a railway line and dumped At that point, the teenager's friends - including the LGBTI mate she'd travelled down from northern Thailand with - had already reported her missing.  She was last seen walking along the Pattaya Beach Road away from the loud strip of neon bars and young prostitutes dubbed locally 'Walking Street' off to catch a tuk-tuk or taxi back to Carman's place. Little Cake had been in Pattaya just twelve days on her first visit and had a fake ID saying she was 22, five years older than she was. Simon Carman had been living in Pattaya for a stretch of about eight months, but was a repeat visitor. They met near Soi 6 on the vibrant 1km stretch of Walking Street which closes to vehicle traffic from between 7pm and 3am. It was after midnight, Ms Donhomla was walking the strip for the last time. The buzzing entertainment and red-light district was as usual packed with girls as booming music spilled from the establishments and doormen grabbed at passers-by to try and entice them inside. Carman's social media accounts show his interest in Asian women. He likely approached and hatched an agreement with Little Cake, because sometime after 2.30am, the West Australian and the girl from Northern Thailand are caught hand-in-hand on CCTV walking along the quiet stretch of Pattaya Beach Road. They had to travel down Pattaya's Sai Song Road before they turned up on CCTV again, at 3.34am, 8km away and walking through the tiled foyer of Rimhad Jomtien condominium. Street workers line Pattaya's infamous vice strip awash with neon lights, bars, girls and men looking for sex in southern Thailand's notorious sleaze capital Carman rented a squalid flat at Rimhad Jomtien condominium (above a $300-a-month example in Rimhad) where after arguing with Ms Donhomla he is accused of choking her and holding the body overnight in his dirty bathroom Simon Carman, 45, told Thai police he argued with Ms Donhomla over money before she pulled a knife and he killed her If Little Cake was expecting anything glamorous, she would have been disappointed.  The rooms at the Rimhad rent from as little as $AUD300 a month and, while already rudimentary, Carmen's was a trash heap, with the girl texting her friend to say: 'It's so messy'. Room 380 where Carman rented can be entered via a dingy hallway where the electrical wires are strung up alarmingly like power lines in Australian streets, and the transoms above the doors are lined with newspapers. Inside it is hardly different with tiny rooms big enough to hold only a flimsy double bed, a TV, a nightstand and a small, plastic couch. Extension cords are suspended between a fridge and a microwave opening off onto a tiny bathroom with cracked and moldy tiles. At some point, the two got into an argument over money, reportedly a difference in price from what Carman wanted to pay, 500 baht ($21) and what Ms Donhomla charged, 1000 baht or $43. Pattaya Police Colonel Anek Srathongyoo later said Carman told them the girl 'used a knife to threaten him' and that 'he squeezed her neck, causing her to lose consciousness' 'He confessed that he killed her after they had an argument,' police said. Then, Carman kept Little Cake's body in his bathroom all day, during which temperatures outside peaked at 34 degrees, and into the evening. A bathroom in one of the cheaper flats in the Jomtien condominium where Simon Carman kept the girl's body during the day before stuffing it into a suitcase and dumping it Carman strapped the suitcase carrying Ms Donhomla onto the back of the bike. CCTV catches him, motorbike helmet compliant, riding through Pattaya's streets on the way to the city's night markets Rescue officers carried the suitcase up the embankment in a sling and laid it out on the ground above. A policeman gingerly tugged at a zip and got it open, the horrific sight of Little Cake's remains emerging from inside. Around 9.30pm on June 25, Carman is caught on CCTV once again, alone but for the black suitcase he wheels down to the car park where his rented red-black Yamaha Aerox motorcycle is parked.  He straps the suitcase carrying Ms Donhomla onto the back of the bike. Street CCTV catches him, motorbike helmet compliant, riding through Pattaya on the way to the city's night markets. No security footage has yet emerged of Carman removing or tossing the suitcase, but he slept one more night in his rented apartment before emerging and speaking with his condo neighbours. 'After the incident happened, he just lived his normal life,' Col. Srathongyoo said. 'Going out from the condo room, getting his clothes washed, chatting with surrounding people, (who had) no clue that he had done something bad.'  The naive newcomer to Pattaya's vice strip had been in town 14 days when she met Aussie truckie Simon Carman The police eventually raided the premises - after Little Cake's friend tipped them off about the last person with her - and found it empty. Pattaya detectives issued a warrant and an immigration alert was sent out, airport police only just managed to get to Carman, at about 9.30pm last Friday, as he boarded Jetstar Flight JQ76 to Perth.  Police got to the railway tracks behind the night market a few minutes after midnight. It is believed Carman told them where to look. The suitcase lay in the grass. Rescue officers carried it up the embankment in a sling and laid it out on the ground above. A policeman gingerly tugged at a zip and got it open, the horrific sight of Little Cake's remains emerging from inside. Just 48 hours earlier, Thanchanok Donhomla had been a vibrant, if naive, teenager venturing onto one of the world's most bustling and dangerous streets of sin, likely to support her dirt poor family. They have now lost their cherished daughter. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.