A man in the U.K. charged with killing his 14-year-old daughter claimed the two were “mucking about” and engaging in some “harmless fun” when she was fatally stabbed.
Simon Vickers, 50, is facing murder and manslaughter charges in the death of Scarlett Vickers at their Darlington, England, home on July 5, 2024.
Simon told jurors on Monday that his daughter was his “purpose” in life, he would never have harmed her and called her death a “freak accident,” the BBC reported.
“We were having harmless fun,” he told the court. “There was no knife in any equation. I was throwing a pair of tongs as far as I was aware.”
The court heard they had been “mucking about” in the kitchen while Scarlett’s mother Sarah Hall was making tea when Simon — who said he had about four glasses of wine that night — grabbed what he thought were tongs and threw them and his daughter.
But the tongs turned out to be a knife that cut an 11-cm wound into Scarlett’s chest, causing her to bleed to death.
“Then she just stopped breathing,” he testified. “There was nothing. Her eyes just went like a doll’s eyes.”
Sarah testified that she had taken the knife out to cut garlic bread and placed it next to the tongs.
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However, a pathologist previously told the court it was “practically impossible” the wound was caused by a thrown knife. It was more likely to have been inflicted by a knife held firmly in a person’s hand, according to reports.
Simon testified that the family of three was “inseparable” and called Scarlett a “fantastic daughter” who was “cheeky” and “normal.”
“I spoilt her, she had me wrapped around her little finger,” he said. “I like to see her happy, put a smile on her face.”
The trial continues.