The friend of a 17-year-old girl allegedly murdered in Thailand reported her missing to police and then went to the apartment of the Australian man charged over her death.
Security footage images obtained by the Guardian show the friend at the apartment of Simon Peter Carman in Pattaya. The footage is time-stamped 1.49pm on Friday 26 June, although it is not clear whether the time stamp was added manually.
Carman, 45, was charged at the weekend with the alleged murder of Thunchanok Donhomla, whose body was found in a suitcase near railway tracks in Pattaya in the early hours of Saturday. He has denied the charges.
Pattaya city police began investigating on 26 June after the friend reported Donhomla missing. Police said Donhomla, from the province of Kalasin in north-eastern Thailand, had arrived in Pattaya only a week earlier to visit a friend. The friend told police Donhomla had been hanging out with a foreigner and had been gone for about 24 hours.
Security footage shows the friend went to Carman's apartment after reporting her missing. In one image Carman appears at the door of his apartment in Jomtien, a beachside area of Pattaya, and the friend can be seen entering. A second image with a time stamp less than a minute later shows the friend inside speaking with Carman. Images taken at 1.24pm that day show Carman's apartment with the mattress stripped of bedding, clothes in piles, and dishes visible in the kitchen.
Police said the last text messages on Donhomla's phone show she sent her friend a message saying 'don't worry I already arrived in the room. It's messy.' CCTV footage allegedly showed Donhomla holding hands with Carman in the lobby of his condo early on Thursday morning, and later showed Carman leaving with a suitcase at about 9pm. He was out for 20 minutes on a motorcycle with the suitcase, returning without it. Police have charged Carman with murder, concealing a corpse, and abduction of a minor over 15 but not yet 18 for indecent purposes.
