A father accused of stabbing to death his 14-year-old daughter in the family kitchen told police they were “just mucking around” throwing objects at each other while cooking tea, a court has heard.
Simon Vickers, 50, is standing trial at Teesside crown court in Middlesbrough accused of the murder or manslaughter of his daughter Scarlett Vickers. He denies both charges.
Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, said paramedics were called to the family home in Darlington where they found Scarlett on the kitchen floor with a stab wound.
“Scarlett bled to death in her own home,” he said.
McKone said a 999 call was made on 5 July last year by Scarlett’s mother Sarah Hall who told the operator they had been “messing about” and that her partner had thrown something at their daughter “and he didn’t realise”.
Vickers told paramedic Andrew Crow that his daughter had lunged towards him during a bout of play-fighting, the court heard.
The paramedic pronounced that Scarlett had died at 11.50pm, about an hour after he arrived at the house.
The court heard that PC Adam Tobling saw the parents sitting together on a sofa and both had blood on their hands and clothing and were “visibly upset”.
Hall said Vickers had picked up a spatula and “not realised the knife was with it”.
The policeman said Vickers then added: “We were cooking tea, we were mucking about playing around and started throwing objects at each other.”
Hall said she had got a knife out to cut garlic bread and her partner had picked it up without realising.
Vickers then said that they were “intoxicated” drinking wine after a “nice day” watching football.
Neither parent realised Scarlett was hurt until she yelled, the court heard.
Officers heard Vickers say: “It wasn’t even hard, it was nothing, I don’t understand.”
McKone said the depth of the stab wound was 11cm. It was in her chest and damaged Scarlett’s heart.
He said the prosecution case was that the 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.
“The prosecution says that the wound is too deep to have been caused accidentally,” he said.
Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, said Vickers and his partner Sarah Hall loved their daughter, their only child, with all their hearts.
“He had no wish or desire to harm her,” Lumley 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 trial continues.