Teenager Scarlett Vickers sustained a fatal stab wound to her heart after a knife went 11cm into her body, a trial has heard.
The 14-year-old schoolgirl suffered a single stab wound and died in her family’s Darlington home on July 5 last year. Scarlett’s dad, Simon Vickers, of Geneva Road, Darlington, was charged with murder in connection with Scarlett’s death. The 50-year-old denies both murder and manslaughter of his daughter and is standing trial at Teesside Crown Court.
On Thursday, the trial heard evidence from Dr Jennifer Bolton, a forensic pathologist, who carried out the post-mortem of Scarlett. She described the injury to Scarlett as an “incise wound”, which is generally caused by something “sharp, most commonly a knife, but occasionally something else with a sharp edge”. The jury heard the knife penetrated between the ribs on her left side, through the lung and her heart.
Dr Bolton said: “The stab wound [went] into the front of the heart and ends in the middle of the heart. It ends in the chamber of the left ventricle. This is the thickest part of your heart responsible for pumping blood all the way round the body.”
The doctor said because the stab wound went through Scarlett’s chest, lung and heart, it caused blood to go into the cavity where the lung is. She said: “This blood loss is the reason Scarlett died.” Dr Bolton said death would not have been immediate, and that it is common for someone to be able to speak, or even walk a few steps after sustaining such an injury. The jury heard Scarlett would have become unconscious before death but would not have collapsed immediately.
Prosecutor, Mark McKone asked the witness if she considered whether the knife could have been thrown towards Scarlett. Dr Bolton said: “When a knife is thrown…in order to damage the skin, the knife has to come into contact with the body at effectively 90 degrees, or it would rebound off.
“That also works if you have clothing, because it has a potential to help the knife being deflected away. That means if someone were to throw a knife, it has to travel in such a way it reaches the body in 90 degrees. In Scarlett’s case, it then has to travel into the body for 11cm. Kitchen knives aren’t designed to be thrown or to go through the air, it is practically impossible for a kitchen knife to be thrown or for it to travel in such a way…”
The doctor told the jury that it was her opinion that the knife was being “held tightly” with a firm grip by a braced arm at the time it was used. Dr Bolton added that if the wound was a few centimetres less deep, Scarlett would likely have survived.
The jury also heard evidence from paramedic, Anthony Brierly, who attended the home. He said Vickers had told him the pair had been “playing, throwing knives around”.
Mr Brierly said he had, “formed the opinion that drink [alcohol] had been involved” and that a wine bottle was found in the home. He told the jury: “The events of that day will stay with me for the rest of my life…”
Nicholas Lumley KC asked the paramedic if either parent said Scarlett had been deliberately harmed at the time. The witness replied: “No”.
The trial continues.
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