A father allegedly stabbed his teenage daughter to death while they were in a "play-fight" cooking dinner in their kitchen. The court heard that 50-year-old Simon Vickers is the suspect in 14-year-old Scarlett Vickers' murder.
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Daughter Killed During 'Play Fight' With Father
The horrifying incident occurred on July 5 last year in Darlington, England. Simon has denied the murder, yet prosecutors claimed it was deliberate, as the knife cut 11 cm deep into the victim's chest.
After the fatal stabbing, Simon called emergency services. In defense to a paramedic, the father told them they were just "play-fighting and she lunged towards me and it just went in." During the incident, Sarah Hall, the mother, was apparently "drinking wine, having a nice day watching football."
Hall told the cops that she had "the kitchen knife out to cut garlic bread." That's when Simon grabbed the spatula at the same time, not realizing the knife was with it.
First responders discovered the young girl lying on the kitchen floor with a stab wound on the left side of her chest. It cut so deep that it ended up piercing the teenager's heart. They declared her dead at 11:50 PM.
Was It Really A Play Fight Gone Wrong?
Despite Simon claiming they were "mucking about" while making tea when they "started throwing objects at each other," prosecutors believe otherwise.
"The knife must have been held firmly in the defendant's hand at the time of the stabbing," Mark McKone KC told jurors, "with the defendant having a firm wrist and a firm elbow." According to their case, the wound was too deep to be an accident.
Jurors also heard from a forensic scientist that the suspect had to have used the knife in a "stabbing-type action."
Even in police custody, Simon continued to defend himself. "One minute I was cooking, next there's blood gushing out of her chest."
McKone said that Simon gave three different accounts of what had happened before the police interview. "One, that he had been throwing a knife. Two, that he had been throwing other items and three, Scarlett lunging towards the knife."
The changing stories that don't fit with what truly happened show that Simon was lying to the police, he continued to explain. Simon's trial will continue this Thursday where we may get more insight into what really went down in that kitchen.
