A father accused of stabbing his 14-year-old daughter in the heart had drunk a bottle of wine and smoked cannabis before the incident occurred during an alleged “play-fight”.
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.
He said they were “messing around” by throwing objects at each other before he accidentally picked up a knife.
But prosecutors allege the wound, which was 11cm deep, was too deep to have been caused accidentally.
Jurors at Teeside Crown Court heard that Mr Vickers and Sarah Hall, Scarlett’s mother, were “intoxicated” after drinking two bottles of red wine from 5pm.
In a video-recorded police interview shown to the court, Mr Vickers said the family had enjoyed a “nice day” and were watching television.
He also admitted that he had smoked a joint of cannabis and Ms Hall was making dinner.
Tributes outside the house in Darlington in Durham where the incident took place – North News/NNP
Mr Vickers told officers: “[Scarlett] had some grapes. We started throwing grapes at each other and some splattered on the wall.
“Then I went to try and get her and she tried to push me away. I grabbed the tongs and threw them at her. That’s it, that’s all it was.
“She just shouted ‘ah, ah ah’ and fell to the floor.”
Asked to describe the incident again, Mr Vickers told officers: “I went to try and get closer to her and she moved away.
“I grabbed the tongs and just chucked them at her, obviously I picked a knife up.
“That was it. We were horse-playing. I must be the unluckiest man in the world.”
He told police he and Sarah were “kind of intoxicated”.
“We had been drinking, having a nice day watching football on TV,” he said.
“We were making tea, we were mucking about. We were just throwing stuff around. How the f— has this happened?”
Describing Scarlett as “the love of my life”, Mr Vickers said: “I don’t want to be alive, I really don’t. I just want to curl up and cry, I can’t even cry properly.”
Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, previously told the court the knife had damaged Scarlett’s heart and must have been firmly in the defendant’s hand when she was stabbed.
Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, described Scarlett as the much-loved only child of her parents and that Mr Vickers “had no desire to harm her in any way at all”.
“He, Simon Vickers, will bear moral responsibility for his daughter’s death for the rest of his life,” he said.
The trial continues.