A father accused of murdering his 14-year-old daughter by stabbing her in the heart told emergency services they were just play-fighting in the kitchen at the time, a court has heard.
Simon Vickers, 50, denies both the murder and manslaughter of his daughter Scarlett Vickers in the kitchen of their family home in Darlington on 5 July last year.
He told police they had been playing, and then the next moment blood was “gushing” from the girl’s chest, Teesside Crown Court heard.
But the prosecution told jurors this was not an accident.
‘Messing around in a normal playful way’
Defence barrister Nicholas Lumley KC said the father and daughter had been “messing around together in the kitchen, in a normal playful way” when Vickers realised Scarlett had been injured.
He continued: “Her body must have come into contact with a sharp knife and she quickly died as a result of a single knife wound.
“He, Simon Vickers, will bear moral responsibility for his daughter’s death for the rest of his life.
“However, he denies completely that he did anything unlawful or deliberate to cause that tragic death.”
Scarlett’s mother Sarah Hall was also present in the kitchen and tried to save the teenager as she bled to death on the floor after suffering an 11cm wound to her chest.
Ms Hall called 999 and said Vickers and Scarlett had been “messing about” and that her partner had thrown something at their daughter.
‘Chucking knives at each other’
Vickers told paramedic Andrew Crow that his daughter had lunged towards him during a bout of play-fighting, the court heard.
Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, told jurors Mr Crow described how Vickers and Ms Hall were initially unsure how Scarlett was injured.
The prosecution added: “Mr Crow said that the defendant picked up a knife off the side counter of the kitchen and said: ‘We were messing on, we were play-fighting and she lunged towards me and it just went in’.”
Ms Hall mentioned that Vickers had picked up a spatula and “not realised the knife was with it”, jurors were told.
Mr Crow pronounced Scarlett dead at 11.50pm, around an hour after arriving at the house.
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‘It was nothing – I don’t understand’
Ms Hall said she had got a knife out to cut garlic bread and her partner had picked it up without realising, the trial was told.
Vickers said they were “intoxicated” drinking wine, after a “nice day” watching football.
Jurors were told officers heard Vickers say: “It wasn’t even hard, it was nothing, I don’t understand.”
He made a swiping motion and said: “There wasn’t even any effort into it.”
The court heard that after his arrest, Vickers, speaking at the police station, said: “We were just playing in the kitchen, I don’t know how this happened, one minute I was cooking, next there’s blood gushing out of her chest.”
During a police interview, when asked if he was responsible for his daughter’s death, Mr McKone told the court Vickers said: “I must be.”
The court heard he told detectives his partner was cooking, Scarlett threw some grapes at him, he threw some back and then threw some tongs at her.
Vickers said now he knew he picked up the blade but that he did not see it at the time.
The knife that allegedly injured Scarlett. Pic: PA
“The prosecution says that the wound is too deep to have been caused accidentally,” Mr McKone told jurors.
Mr McKone added that forensic scientist Gemma Escott had studied the knife and judged that the material on the blade indicated a stabbing motion had been used.
The trial was adjourned until Thursday.
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