A woman who described having an on-off affair with Thomas Cashman told detectives he said "he wanted to get them before they got him" on the night Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead.
Today (Friday) a jury heard a video recording of a police interview with a witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, during the trial of 34-year-old Cashman. Cashman, of Grenadier Drive, West Derby, denies any involvement in nine-year-old Olivia's death.
Manchester Crown Court has heard that Olivia was killed by a bullet that passed through the front door of her home on Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, before striking the hand of her mum, Cheryl Korbel, and hitting her in the chest.
READ MORE: Thomas Cashman trial updates as woman describes alleged affair before Olivia Pratt-Korbel shooting
The gunman who fired the fatal shot was chasing 36-year-old Joseph Nee, who barged into the Korbel family home while running for his life, at around 10pm on Monday, August 22 last year.
The witness made a statement to police alleging that Cashman appeared in her bedroom without warning on the night of the murder, waking her up. She said: "I was in my room, I must have dozed off around 8.30pm. All I remember was just being tapped on the leg a couple of times.
“I was just waking up from it, I could just hear ‘it’s Tommy, it’s Tommy’ in me room. I was like 'is this a nightmare, or is this a dream'. He had his hands in his head, in his hair."
The woman told detectives Cashman was wearing a T-shirt, boxer shorts and socks and was asking her to get him a "pair of pants". She said: "It was pitch black. I followed him down the stairs. I’d gone downstairs and I couldn’t understand what he was saying, he was stuttering.
“Something like someone was coming for him, he had a source who told him someone was sitting him off. He wanted to do him before he did him. She says Cashman told her: “I didn’t know where else to go, but I trust you.”
When probed on the comments by detectives, she said: "Joey was sitting him off. A source has told him Joey was sitting him off and they were looking for him. They were checking his whereabouts. He wanted to get them first. I said how do you trust that source?
"'He’s good’, he said to me."
The court heard the woman phoned a man she knew called Paul Russell, despite Cashman telling her "no-one can know I'm here." She told detectives Mr Russell arrived and the two men were talking outside.
She said: "I asked him where he’d been and he said he went to drop the bits off before he came my house. I honestly believe it was the guns yeah.
“I know he wouldn’t have came to my house with them. Bits or stuff, it was one of them words. I just went quiet, I was just cold. I didn’t know what to say to him, I really didn’t.
“They both [Cashman and Russell] built a spliff - [Russell said] 'lad don’t want to hear it don’t tell me nothing'. 'Joey’ was said at the front door. ‘Lad, I’ve done Joey. I’ve done Joey’ or, I dunno it was something along them lines. As he was outside in the front garden.
“He was very nervous, I never seen him like that. I felt like there was something wrong."
The woman said Cashman allegedly left a bundle of black clothing by a washing machine in her house. She said: "I was devastated the fact that piece of s*** never took them clothes with him.
"He’s jeopardised everyone’s life just to save his own back. It’s really done my head in."
The woman told the detectives she "couldn't protect" Cashman. Referring to her reasons for coming forward, she said: "I don’t want her [Cheryl Korbel] to not have them answers. It’s her little girl, at the end of the day. It could have been anyone that night, it could have been anyone’s house."
The jury has been told it will hear further evidence from the witness on Monday.
Cashman, of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Olivia, the attempted murder of Joseph Nee and wounding Cheryl Korbel with intent. He also denies two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, namely a 9mm self-loading handgun and a 0.3 calibre revolver.
The trial continues.
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