A British father is maintaining his innocence after he was accused of murdering his teen daughter to death while they were “play fighting” in their home.
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According to Sky News, the incident happened at the family’s home in Darlington on July 5, 2024. The father, identified as Simon Vickers, claimed while recently in the Teesside Crown Court that he was playing with his 14-year-old daughter, Scarlett, when he fatally stabbed the teen in the heart.
While speaking to jurors, defense barrister Nicholas Lumley KC stated the father and his teen daughter were messing around in a “normal playful way” when things took a terrifying turn.
“Her body must have come into contact with a sharp knife, and she quickly died as a result of a single knife wound,” Lumley explained. “He, Simon Vickers, 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 that tragic death.”
Scarlett’s mother, Sarah Hall, was also in the kitchen when the incident occurred and had tried to save the teen. She had suffered from an 11cm wound to the chest.
Paramedic Pronounced the Teen Daughter Dead One Hour After She Was Stabbed By Her Father
Hall had called 999 and told the operator that Vickers had “thrown something” at the teen. Vickers then told the responding paramedic, Andrew Crow, that his daughter had lunged towards him during the play fight. Crow pronounced the teen dead at 11:50 p.m., one hour after he arrived on the scene.
Although the father claimed he didn’t mean to stab his daughter, the prosecutors of the case don’t believe it was an accident. Mark McKone KC, the prosecutor, told the jurors that Crow had stated the couple initially weren’t sure how the teen was fatally injured.
“Mr Crow said that 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,’” McKone explained.
Hall stated Vickers had picked up a spatula and “not realized the knife was with it.” The knife was out while she was cutting up garlic bread.
Vickers further pointed out that he and Hall were “intoxicated” after drinking wine. He allegedly stated on the scene, “It wasn’t even hard, it was nothing. I don’t understand.”
While in court, Vickers showed his swiping motion in the play fight. He noted there “wasn’t even any effort into it.”
Following the incident, police had asked Vickers if he was responsible for his daughter’s death. To which he replied, “I must be.”