A father accused of murdering his 14-year-old daughter by stabbing her in the heart claimed that they had been play-fighting while dinner was being prepared, a court has heard.
Simon Vickers, 50, denies the murder and manslaughter of his daughter Scarlett in the kitchen of their home in Darlington, Durham, on July 5 last year.
The defendant told police following the incident that the pair had been “mucking about” by throwing objects at each other in the kitchen while cooking dinner, the court heard.
After he was arrested, Mr Vickers said at the police station: “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.”
Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, described Scarlett as the much-loved only child of the parents and that her father, Mr Vickers, “had no desire to harm her in any way at all”.
He said: “They had been messing around together in the kitchen, in a normal playful way and Simon Vickers suddenly realised that Scarlett had been injured.
“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.”
The knife that was allegedly used to kill Scarlett – Crown Prosecution Service/PA
The prosecution’s case was that this was not an accident, jurors heard.
Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that Scarlett suffered a single 11cm wound to the left of her chest, which damaged her heart.
The prosecution said that this wound was not caused by a thrown weapon and that the knife must have been firmly in the defendant’s hand when she was stabbed.
Gemma Escott, a forensic scientist, studied the knife and judged that material on the blade indicated a stabbing motion had been used, Mr McKone said.
Scarlett’s mother, Sarah Hall, was present in the kitchen and tried to save the teenager as she bled to death on the floor, jurors heard.
Pc Adam Tobling saw the parents sitting together on a sofa and both had blood on their hands and clothing and were “visibly upset”, the court heard.
Ms Hall said that Mr Vickers had picked up a spatula and “not realised the knife was with it”.
Pc Tobling said Mr Vickers then added: “We were cooking tea, we were mucking about playing around and started throwing objects at each other.”
Flowers at the scene of the stabbing in Darlington – North News
The paramedic pronounced that she had died at 11.50pm, about an hour after he arrived at the house.
Dr Jennifer Bolton, a Home Office pathologist, carried out a post mortem examination and found that the kitchen knife breached the chest wall between the fifth and sixth ribs, went through her lower lung and passed into the left ventricle of the heart.
Scarlett died very quickly from blood loss, the pathologist found.
The trial was adjourned until Thursday.