Scarlett Vickers suffered a single stab wound which pierced her heart and lung when the pair were messing around in the kitchen, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Her 50-year-old father, Simon, was charged with her murder after telling police three different versions of events from the fateful night last summer.
The family had been watching football during the Euro 24 tournament and Vickers told police that he was ‘intoxicated’ at the time of the fatal stabbing after spending the evening drinking wine.
Scarlett Vickers (Image: Durham Constabulary)
Jurors heard how paramedics were unable to save the 14-year-old’s life and she was pronounced dead at her home on Geneva Road on July 5 last year.
Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, outlined the case against Vickers in his opening statement as family members packed out the public gallery.
“Scarlett Vickers died as a result of a stab wound to the left side of the chest,” Mr McKone said.
“This had breached the chest wall between the fifth and sixth ribs, going through the lower most 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 knife recovered from the home of Simon Vickers following the death of his daughter Scarlett (Image: Durham Constabulary)
The teenager’s mother, Sarah Hall, carried out CPR until the paramedics arrived and they took over at around 10.50pm.
Mr McKone added: “Sarah Hall made the 999 call. Sarah said that they were messing about. She said ‘my partner threw something and he didn’t realise’.
“A paramedic, Andrew Crow, arrived at 10.50pm. Scarlett’s mother was trying to perform CPR on an unconscious, Scarlett.
“Mr Crow said that initially the defendant and Scarlett’s Mum said they were unsure how the injury occurred and then Scarlett’s mum said that Scarlett and her dad were play fighting and ‘chucking’ knives at each other’.”
The jury heard how the stab wound was about 11cm deep and damaged Scarlett’s heart before she bled to death in her own home.
Tributes to Scarlett Vickers at Haughton Academy (Image: IAN LAMMING)
Mr Mckone said the dad gave three different versions of events to police and paramedics at the time.
He said Vickers told them his daughter had lunged at him and he accidentally stabbed her; he threw the knife at her while playfighting, and he threw other kitchen utensils without realising he had picked up a knife.
Describing what the police witnessed, the barrister added: “A PC noted that both Sarah Hall and the defendant had blood on their hands and clothing and they were both visibly upset. The defendant had a cut to a finger.”
Jurors heard how Vickers said: “We were cooking tea, we were mucking about playing around and started throwing objects at each other.”
Mr KcKone said the defendant was also heard to say “We (were) kinda intoxicated, we have been drinking wine having a nice day watching football, we were making tea mucking about -what the f***.”
Mr McKone said the defendant claimed that he had picked up a pair of tongs and threw them at her without realising that he had also picked up the knife.
In police interview, Vickers said ‘he has a good relationship with Scarlett and that they are always play fighting and messing on so to play fight like this is quite normal’.
The barrister added: “The prosecution say, based on what the pathologist said, that the knife must have been held firmly in the defendant’s hand at the time of the stabbing.
“The prosecution say that the wound is too deep to have been caused accidentally.”
Nicholas Lumley KC, representing Vickers, tells the jury that his client had ‘no wish to harm her in any way at all’.
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He tells them that Scarlett was their only child and the defendant and his daughter had been messing around in the kitchen.
“Simon Vickers will carry the moral responsibility for her death for the rest of his life”, he added. The defendant says it was a ‘tragic, tragic accident’.
Vickers, of Geneva Road, Darlington, denies murdering his daughter on July 5 last year.
The trial continues.