Family and friends of the victim who was allegedly murdered by an Australian man mourn for a teenage girl who was ‘beloved by everyone’
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenAidan JonesPublished: 4:51pm, 1 Jul 2026Just days after she last saw a teenager, known to her friends as Cake, on Pattaya Beach, Ning began to realise the unfolding horrors that shocked Thailand.The body of the 17-year-old was found on Saturday, placed inside a black suitcase and dumped in scrubland next to a railway track.
“I would see her often. I didn’t realise she was still just a child,’’ Ning, 22, told This Week in Asia, giving an alias. “Her murder breaks my heart.’’
Australian national Simon Peter Carman, 45, has been charged by Thai police with premeditated murder, concealment of a body and abduction of a minor for indecent purposes in relation to the death of the teenager, who was affectionately known as “Nong Cake”.
Carman was arrested at Bangkok’s main airport on Saturday attempting to flee to Perth after police discovered the body, discarded in waist-high undergrowth behind a railway line.
Investigators have traced Carman’s movements from CCTV and video evidence provided by witnesses, which shows the Australian leading the teen from the beach to his condominium.
