Thomas Cashman "thinks the jury were all born yesterday" and has tried to "pull the wool over their eyes", a prosecutor claimed today.
Closing arguments are being aired at Manchester Crown Court today where the 34-year-old is in the fourth week of his trial for the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel. The nine-year-old died on August 22 last year when a gunman fired a bullet through the front door of her family home in Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, injuring her mum, Cheryl Korbel, in the wrist and striking Olivia in the chest.
The gunman had been chasing 36-year-old convicted drug dealer and burglar Joseph Nee, who barged into the Korbel house while fleeing for his life. Cashman, of Grenadier Drive, West Derby, denies any involvement in Olivia's murder or any of the shooting.
READ MORE: Thomas Cashman murder trial updates as case enters final stages
This morning (Monday) David McLachlan, KC, prosecuting, began his closing speech and told the jury they must "use their common sense" when considering Cashman's explanations for his movements and whereabouts that day.
He said: "We say, but you will decide, that Thomas Cashman must think you were all born yesterday.
“Fortunately, you were not. Every day, you have brought something with you in bucket loads - a vital commodity which the prosecution say he cannot deal with.
“That commodity is common sense. You live in the real world. You know better than anyone else when someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes.
“That is what Thomas Cashman is trying to do. He sat back and said nothing in interview while being interviewed about the murder of a nine year old girl. Now he’s trying to make his case fit the evidence.
“We invite you to use that common sense when you consider the evidence."
Mr McLachlan reminded the jury that the "key witness" in the case, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told them she heard Cashman "confess" to the shooting, telling her partner, Paul Russell, "I've done Joey". She also told the police and the jury that Cashman told her he had "done the backs", an alleged reference to running through back gardens, and that she had given him some of her partner's clothing.
Mr McLachlan suggested the woman "could not have known" some of the details she told police about the gunman's movements unless she was telling the truth.
He said: "“How could [the witness] know [the gunman] had garden hopped? How could she know he wasn’t alibied at home?
“She couldn’t know. How could she know he wasn’t in the shops or the pub watching football. How could she have any idea the clothes she said she gave him would be recovered from his sister’s address?
“In short, she couldn’t know these things. Is she trying to stitch him up for the murder of a 9-year-old girl because she was angry, resentful or vindictive or because she wanted the financial reward?
“Or is it the case that she told you the truth?"
At the start of his speech, Mr McLachlan pointed to the dock as he told the jury they would "never forget" the name of Thomas Cashman. He told them: “It is not a trial based on sympathy or emotion, but how could you not be sympathetic when you saw Cheryl, Chloe and Ryan Korbel as they told you what had happened to Olivia.
“You wouldn’t have a heart if it didn’t affect you, but you must put that emotion to one side. We repeat and we stress that we will never, in this case, invite you to convict Thomas Cashman on the basis of emotion.
“That would be wrong, and it doesn’t honour the memory of Olivia or help her family for her conviction to be based on a false basis."
As well as denying Olivia's murder, Cashman denies the attempted murder of Nee, as well as wounding Cheryl Korbel with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. He also pleaded not guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, namely a 9mm calibre self-loading pistol and a 0.3 calibre revolver.
The trial continues.
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