Father accused of stabbing daughter says it was a 'freak accident'
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A father accused of stabbing his 14-year-old daughter during a "play-fight" has told a court it was a "freak accident" - claiming he accidentally threw a knife at her without realising. Simon Vickers, 50, denies both the murder and manslaughter of his only child Scarlett in the kitchen of their home in Darlington on 5 July last year.
Teesside Crown Court has heard Scarlett died after being stabbed through the heart. Prosecutors said the 11cm wound was too deep to have been caused accidentally, and the knife must have been "held firmly" at the time. On Monday, Vickers told his trial he swiped some tongs towards Scarlett while they were "mucking about" and had no idea there was a knife next to them until he saw blood gushing from her pyjama top.
Vickers said he must have swiped the knife at the same time as the tongs, telling the court: "This could only ever have been a freak accident.". When questioned by his barrister Nicholas Lumley KC, Vickers said he accepted causing Scarlett's death but when asked if he intended to cause her any harm, the defendant replied: "No, none whatsoever.".
Vickers said on that day he and Scarlett's mother Sarah Hall had watched a football match on the television, and he had drunk three to four glasses of wine and smoked a cannabis joint. He said Scarlett "started eating some grapes" as she was still hungry, before "we all started throwing grapes around for a bit, just mucking about".
