A British father on trial for murder claims he and his daughter were “messing around” while “play fighting” when she was stabbed in the heart and died.
Simon Vickers, 50, is accused of murder or manslaughter after his daughter Scarlett Vickers, 14, bled to death on the kitchen floor of their Darlington home, near Middlesbrough, on July 5, 2024.
He told police at the time that they had been playing and the next moment blood started “gushing” from her chest, a court in Teesside heard, reports Sky News.
However, prosecutors said the stabbing was no accident.
Vickers’ lawyer told the jury the father and daughter were “messing around together in the kitchen, in a normal playful way” when he realized she was hurt.
“Her body must have come into contact with a sharp knife and she quickly died as a result of a single knife wound,” Vickers’ lawyer Nicholas Lumley told the court.
“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.”
Court heard Vickers’ daughter suffered an 11 centimetre wound to her chest.
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The mother, Sarah Hall, was also in the kitchen when the injury occurred and tried to save her life.
She called for an ambulance after telling the emergency dispatcher that her partner and daughter were “messing about” when he threw something at her.
Vickers told a paramedic, Andrew Crow, that his daughter rushed at him while they were play fighting.
“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,’” the prosecution said.
Jurors were also told that Hall mentioned Vickers picked up a spatula and didn’t notice that a knife was with it.
The teen was pronounced dead just before midnight, an hour after paramedics arrived.
Vickers said he was “intoxicated” after drinking wine earlier in the day and watching a soccer match.
“It wasn’t even hard, it was nothing, I don’t understand,” Vickers said after police arrived to the home, the jury heard.
“There wasn’t even any effort into it,” he added, making a swiping motion with his arm.
Following his arrest, Vickers told investigators he and his daughter were 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.”