A father facing a murder charge has claimed in court that a tragic play fight turned deadly when he “accidentally” inflicted a fatal knife wound to his daughter’s heart. The incident took place at their home in Darlington, Co Durham.
Scarlett Vickers, aged 14, sustained a harrowing 11cm stab wound to her chest during what should have been a commonplace kitchen scenario with her family. Her father, 50 year old Simon Vickers, recounted to police and medics that they were simply “messing around” while he was prepping a meal.
In a distressing account, he described to officers: “One minute I was cooking, then next there was blood gushing from her chest.”
Vickers also claimed in an ill-considered moment he had flung a spatula towards Scarlett, not realising he was holding a knife as well.
The injury was severe; the blow penetrated the left ventricle of her heart, causing her to collapse on the kitchen floor as blood spilled from the wound, Teesside crown court heard. Prosecutor Mark McKone KC explained that the intensity of the impact drove the blade deep into Scarlett’s chest cavity, suggesting it was gripped tightly by the defendant, reports the Mirror.
According to the pathologist’s statement, the fatality was so acute that it could not have occurred accidentally. Faced with this, Mr McKone KC told the jury that Simon Vickers must be held accountable for murder, having demonstrated the intent to inflict grave harm.
The prosecutor 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.”
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.”
Join the Daily Record’s WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.
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***, must have been held firmly in the defendant’s hand”.
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 collapsed, bleeding profusely from a stab wound that the court was told measured approximately 4.3 inches deep and had pierced her heart. She tragically bled to death and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Upon arrival, PC Adam Tobling observed the defendant and Sarah Hall seated together on the couch, both with bloodstained hands and clothes, and in a state of distress. The defendant also had a cut on his finger.
PC Tobling overheard Sarah stating: “He has picked up the spatula, and not realised the knife was with it at the same time.”
Vickers recounted to the jury: “We were cooking tea, we were mucking about, playing around and started throwing objects at each other.”
Ms Hall further explained: “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.”
During police questioning, when asked if he was responsible for Scarlett’s death, Vickers admitted, “I must be,” according to what was heard in court. He described to the officers how he had grabbed tongs with his right hand, twisted, and “throwing them almost blindly over his left shoulder/arm”.
He insisted to the police that there “was not any effort” in the arm movement that resulted in the fatal injury. After being struck, Scarlett cried out and then “all this blood started coming down the side and she fell to the floor”, Vickers said.
He mentioned having a positive relationship with Scarlett, noting that their play fighting was “quite normal”.
Nicholas Lumley, KC, defending, insisted that both Vickers and his partner Ms Hall deeply loved Scarlett, their only child, “with all their hearts”. He continued: “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 pronounced dead at 23.50 on July 5 last year, an hour after paramedics first arrived.
Vickers is facing alternative charges of murder and manslaughter but denies both. The trial, expected to last 10 days, resumes on Thursday.
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – Sign up to our daily newsletter here.