PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) — Members of the family of a 17-year-old Thai girl whose body was discovered in a suitcase near a popular seaside resort city attended a court hearing on Monday where, for the first time, they were to see the Australian man accused of killing her.
Simon Peter Carman was arrested in June after Tunchanok Donhomla was reported missing in Pattaya, a city about 150 kilometers (93 miles) southeast of Bangkok known for tourism and its sex trade. The suitcase containing her body was found soon afterward by railway tracks in a deserted area.
Carman, who turns 46 later this month, was brought in shackles to the Pattaya Provincial Court on Monday for a procedural hearing to designate witnesses to testify.
He has been charged with murder, two counts of indecent behavior involving a minor, and concealing a corpse. A conviction on the charge of premeditated murder carries the possibility of the death penalty.
Carman had initially denied all charges, saying that he was acting in self-defense and that he did not know the girl’s real age. However, when advised by a judge on Monday that the evidence against him on hiding the victim's corpse was strong, but he could expect leniency if he confessed to that charge, he indicated that he would change his plea to guilty.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the hearing, the victim’s aunt, Miruntree Thanachai, said it would be the first time the family would meet the Australian defendant. “We previously asked the authorities, but they didn’t allow us to see him. We want to meet the person who killed our family member,” she said.
Police said the girl was last seen on security footage walking into a condominium with Carman. He was later seen leaving the building alone with a large suitcase. Security footage showed him loading it onto a motorbike and driving away.
The family said Tunchanok had gone on a vacation trip to Pattaya from their home in the rural northeastern province of Kalasin.
Carman was arrested at a Bangkok airport before boarding a flight to Australia. Police said subsequent questioning led them to the suitcase with the girl’s body.
In a police interrogation video shared online by Thai media, Carman said he was defending himself because the girl was threatening him with a knife.
“Simon claimed that it was self-defense, but this is not self-defense because if it is self-defense, how can my child’s teeth fall out? I want to ask,” the victim’s father, Tongchai Donhomla, told reporters. He and other family members said they had viewed the victim’s body, and that her face had been smashed in.
“I want the death penalty, but there is nothing I can do. I want the law to punish, to the fullest,” he said.
His sentiment was echoed by Miruntree Thanachai, one of the girl's aunts. “The family wants the court to sentence him to death because we have lost our family member, the important one. So we want the execution because we don’t want this to happen to others again. No one can bear this kind of damage,” she added.
On Friday, the grieving family also filed a case against Carman in civil court, asking for damages of 1.65 million baht ($49,000)
Exterior of Pattaya Provincial Court in Pattaya, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
A prison vehicle carrying Simon Peter Carman, an Australian man charged with killing a teenage girl, arrives at Pattaya Provincial Court in Pattaya, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
A prison vehicle carrying Simon Peter Carman, an Australian man charged with killing a teenage girl, arrives at Pattaya Provincial Court in Pattaya, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Simon pounded Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 3 storm on Sunday, its eye remaining just offshore as its most powerful winds and rain slammed people living between the Sierra Madre and the ocean.
The hurricane's center swirled parallel to the coast, closing in on the Puerto Vallarta area, where its most damaging winds and rain were expected to hit around midnight and continue through Monday morning. Its maximum sustained winds weakened late Sunday to 115 mph (185 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, but it was still expected to remain a dangerous hurricane.
That’s not good news for people in and around Puerto Vallarta, a popular tourist destination in the state of Jalisco. Just inland and uphill from the resort areas, many Mexicans live in communities where housing might not stand up to the storm.
By late Sunday, Simon's eye was moving northwest about 45 miles (75 kilometers) south of Cabo Corrientes at about 5 mph (7 kph). A senior hurricane center specialist, Philippe Papin, said this westernmost tip of mainland Mexico is the area most likely to get a direct hit from the system. Cabo Corrientes is at the southern tip of Bahia de Banderas, the wide bay where Puerto Vallarta looks out to the Pacific.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles (30 kilometers), and tropical-storm-force winds reach up to 60 miles (95 kilometers) from Simon’s center, meaning the entire area between Mexico's western coast and the Sierra Madre mountains could be affected.
“We’re expecting catastrophic wind and life-threatening storm surge impacts along that west-central coast of Mexico where the hurricane warning is currently in effect,” Papin said. “They’re also getting very heavy rainfall associated with the storm that’s likely going to produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides in areas of higher terrain along the Mexican coastline, and there will be significant swells.”
The hurricane center said Simon was expected to dump an additional 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of rain, with some areas getting up to 8 inches (20 centimeters), in the states of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa through early Thursday.
Isolated totals of 30 inches (76 centimeters) were possible parts in Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco states, producing life-threatening flooding and mudslides, the center said.
As the storm approached Puerto Vallarta, National Guard vehicles patrolled the streets while police used a megaphone to call out the few people who were jogging, walking their dogs or biking by the waterfront. Officers reminded people that the area was closed and urged them to take shelter. Not everyone followed the orders.
Jalisco state suspended classes on Friday and Monday in 22 coastal municipalities and began evacuating people from at-risk areas while asking the tourism sector to make sure workers and visitors are fully accommodated in shelters or safe zones.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took to the social platform X on Sunday to urge people in Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacan to stay sheltered until the government issues a notification that the danger has passed. She also asked people to follow recommendations from civil protection officials and to avoid traveling on public roads.
“Precautionary evacuation efforts to safe zones are ongoing; the priority is our safety,” she wrote.
Hotel worker Víctor Martínez went shopping for nonperishable food Sunday afternoon. He said he could not go to work because public transportation service was suspended and most of the hotel had been evacuated.
Martínez found people’s concerns about the hurricane comforting.
“It happened to us before. It hit us years ago,” Martínez said, referring to a Category 5 hurricane that hit the area in 2002. “People didn’t expect it. We were very skeptical that it would ever hit us. Now, though, we’re different. Precautions are being taken. It happened to us once, and we won’t let it happen again.”
Despite the risks posed by Simon, tourists were still arriving in Puerto Vallarta.
Visitors Ricardo Ramírez and Brenda Villarreal, who have never lived through a hurricane, went looking for food by the city’s boardwalk and came across police urging people to take shelter. Ramírez said they were completely unprepared for the situation.
“The boardwalk is closed. Be responsible. Understand!” police told passersby using a megaphone.
Ramírez said he and Villarreal had planned their four-day vacation since last year and traveled from Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital.
“We don’t know the extent of the danger yet,” Villarreal said. “We’re just starting to see what’s going on.”
This article has been edited to correct the spelling of Philippe Papin's name.
A National Guard on patrol faces the spray at the seawall as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A National Guard stands in the spray as a wave hits the seawall brought by the approaching Hurricane Simon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A National Guard patrols along the seawall as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Tourists walk along the coast as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Tourists take photos of a water splashing against the wall as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Workers place sandbags outside a restaurant as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
This satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA shows Hurricane Simon in the Pacific on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via AP)
A man boards up a shop as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
The Flying Men of Papantla perform the "Danza de los Voladores" on the beach as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A man places a window covering on his boat as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
