Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s grieving mother has called for an end to gang violence following the death of her daughter.
Olivia, 9, was shot dead inside her home in Liverpool by drug dealer Thomas Cashman last August.
Cashman, 34, was this month jailed for murdering Olivia and wounding her mother Cheryl, 46, as he chased rival criminal Joseph Nee into their home in the Dovecot area of the city on August 22.
In her first public interview since Cashman was jailed, Cheryl called him a “coward” for failing to attend court for his sentencing.
She told The Mirror: “I’d support a law that would force criminals to show up for sentencing.
“We were dragged right through that court case when we didn’t need to be. If he’d owned it from the beginning, we wouldn’t have had to be there. He was in that dock right through the trial and on the last day he said ‘I’m not going up’. It’s not fair.
“Why should we go through all that and then he gets the option of not being there? It’s like a kick in the teeth. He’s just a coward – and that’s being polite. I’ve got some slight comfort from him being behind bars. But he’s still got a roof over his head, three square meals, access to gyms and this, that and the other.”
The jury also found Cashman guilty of the attempted murder of Mr Nee and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Sentencing him to a minimum of 42 years in prison before he can be considered for parole, Judge Amanda Yip said it was clear Cashman knew there was a “wholly innocent woman” behind Cheryl’s front door when he continued shooting at Mr Nee.
During the 19-day trial at Manchester Crown Court, the jury heard Cashman, a father of two, admitted operating as a “high-level” cannabis dealer in the area.
The court heard he had been “scoping out” Mr Nee, the intended target, on the day of the shooting and lay in wait for him, armed with two guns, as he watched a football match at the house of a friend.
Footage played to the jury showed the gunman, wearing tracksuit bottoms that matched a pair worn by Cashman, chasing Mr Nee up Kingsheath Avenue and firing three shots.
It hit Ms Korbel in the wrist as she tried to shut the door and struck Olivia in the chest.
Paul Russell, 41, who admitted assisting an offender by driving Thomas Cashman away from an address after the shooting and passing his clothes to another person, is expected to be sentenced at a later date.
