A dad accused of murder claimed that he was play fighting when he “accidentally” killed his teenage daughter with a knife blow to the heart, a court heard on Tuesday.
Scarlett Vickers, 14, suffered an 11cm (4.3in) stab wound to the chest in the kitchen of the family home in Darlington, Co Durham. Her father Simon Vickers, 50, told police and paramedics that he and Scarlett had been “messing around” as he prepared food.
He told police: “One minute I was cooking, then next there was blood gushing from her chest.” He also claimed he had picked up a spatula to throw at his daughter and did so without realising he was also holding a knife.
The force of the blow to the left ventricle of her heart caused her to fall to the kitchen floor with blood pouring from a chest wound, Teesside crown court heard. Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, said that a pathologist report had established that the force of the blow was such that it went deep into Scarlett’s chest, and “must have been held firmly in the defendant’s hand”.
Paramedics arrived as Scarlett’s mother Sarah Hall was trying to perform CPR
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It meant that the injury “was too deep” to have been caused accidentally, and that Simon Vickers was guilty of murdering his daughter, because he intended to cause ‘serious harm’, the jury was told. Mr McKone KC said: “Dr Jennifer Bolton conducted a postmortem. Scarlett died as a result of a stab wound to the left side of the chest.
“This had breached the chest wall between the fifth and sixth ribs, going through the lowermost point of the upper lobe of the left lung, before passing into the left ventricle of the heart where it ended. This has been associated with blood loss into the left chest cavity, and it is this blood loss which has ultimately resulted in her death.
“The approximate wound tract length was 110mm or 11 cm, that is just over 4.3in into her chest.” He added: “Forensic scientist Gemma Escott states that the presence of a demarcation line of fatty material and blood on both sides of the knife… suggests that it had injured Scarlett in a stabbing type action.”
Mr McKone told the jury that Vickers had given ‘three different versions of events’; that he had thrown the knife; that he had thrown it with other items; that Scarlett had fallen onto the knife. Vickers later told police that they were ‘kinda intoxicated, we have been drinking wine and having a nice day and watching football… were making tea, mucking about, what the f***.”
Paramedic Andrew Crow arrived at 10.50pm as Scarlett’s mother Sarah Hall was trying to perform CPR. He recalled how Scarlett’s mum said that Scarlett and her dad were play fighting and ‘chucking’ knives at each other. Mr. Crow said 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.”
Scarlett fell with blood pouring from the wound, the jury heard. The stab wound was about 4.3in deep and damaged Scarlett’s heart. She bled to death and was declared dead at the scene. PC Adam Tobling saw the defendant and Sarah Hall sitting together on the sofa when he arrived. The PC noted that both Sarah and the defendant had blood on their hands and clothing and they were both visibly upset. The defendant had a cut to a finger. He heard Sarah say: “He has picked up the spatula, and not realised the knife was with it at the same time.”
Vickers said: “We were cooking tea, we were mucking about, playing around and started throwing objects at each other.” Ms Hall then said: “I have taken the kitchen knife out to cut garlic bread, he picked the spatula up at the same time, and not realised the knife was with it.”
In police interviews, Vickers was asked if he was responsible for causing Scarlett’s death and said “I must be,” the court heard. The defendant described picking tongs with his right hand, twisting and “throwing them almost blindly over his left shoulder/arm”.
He told police there “was not any effort” into the swing of his arm with the knife. Scarlett shouted “argh” and then “all this blood started coming down the side and she fell to the floor”, he added. He said that he had a good relationship with Scarlett and that they were always play fighting, it was “quite normal”.
Nicholas Lumley, KC, defending, said that both Vickers and his partner Ms Hall loved Scarlett, their only child, “with all their hearts”. He added: “He had no wish to cause her any harm at all. He 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 her death. He can only explain her death as being as a result of a tragic accident in the very close confines of the family kitchen.”
Scarlett was declared dead at 23.50 on July 5 last year, an hour after the paramedics first arrived at the scene.
Vickers denies the alternative charges of murder, and manslaughter. The case, due to last 10 days, continues on Thursday.