A witness in the Olivia Pratt-Korbel murder trial has spoken of her "embarrassing" relationship with Thomas Cashman.
The 34-year-old, of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, is currently standing trial charged with murdering the nine-year-old. She was shot dead at her home on Kingsheath Avenue in Dovecot in August last year.
The jury was today played a video interview with a woman who claims Cashman attended her home in the aftermath of the shooting. She cannot be named for legal reasons, but stated that she had given the 34-year-old a change of clothing after being woken by him at her bedside - while he had allegedly told another man called Paul Russell at the address that he had "done Joey".
READ MORE: Thomas Cashman trial updates as woman describes alleged affair before Olivia Pratt-Korbel shooting
During the clip, the witness described how she had previously had a sexual relationship with the defendant. She told detectives: "I seen him as a good friend to me. I don’t give a s*** about the relationship right, because half the time that relationship - it wasn’t a f***ing affair like people may think. It was three times."
The woman told detectives Cashman had been "nice to me" and had delivered food in the community during covid lockdowns, saying: "He used to go to the butchers and get food things and give them out to people. He was a generous lad."
But she asked of the apparent visit to her home following the shooting: "Why would you put me in that situation? That’s why I’m so heartbroken, why he chose me."
The witness described how the relationship with Cashman became sexual after they had exchanged flirtatious messages on Instagram, saying: "It was like an Instagram message, something like ‘do you feel what I feel’ or something like that. I was just like ‘why do your eyes undress me all the time?’.
“He just came round and then that was the first time we slept together. It was amazing, honestly it was amazing that first time. He went missing again for a good couple of months. It was on off for months.
"The second time, it was s***e. It weren’t the same. It weren’t continuous, it was like three or four times again. I wouldn’t see him for a couple of months.
"He’d just turn up. We’d speak through Instagram. I didn’t speak to him for about three or four weeks. He’d message me first on it."
When asked to describe Cashman's appearance, she said: "He’s not tall. He’s a bit bigger then me.
"He’s very podgy, I used to laugh at him all the time. When you ask him about going the gym, that’s the last thing on his mind."
The woman said Cashman had left clothing by her washing machine on the night of the shooting and given him an Under Armour t-shirt and joggers to wear. She added: "I never see Tommy wearing Under Armour.
"He always looks smart Tommy. He had like Alexander McQueen, do you know what I mean? Moncler trainers. He was always dressed nice."
The witness was asked again about the sexual relationship with Cashman, with a detective having referenced his "willy not working" at this point. She replied: “It just wouldn’t work.
"It just wouldn’t work. No matter what I’d do to him. We used to smoke a lot of weed. He couldn’t get a hard on no.
“I didn’t want to insult him, I didn’t want to get angry. He’s told me he smokes a lot of weed.
"It was vile. It is so embarrassing. It was more a friendship. It weren’t like that."
When the detective asked "were you infatuated by him?", she responded: "I was. He used to make me very nervous around him."
But she then said she wanted to expose Cashman for "what a rat he was" as she believed he was also seeing another woman who was not his girlfriend. Police asked her about text messages she had previously sent to a friend in which she was "a bit angry", one of which read: "It’s time to ruin him like he has done to me."
Manchester Crown Court heard during the prosecution's opening on Tuesday that an armed man had been "relentlessly pursuing" Joseph Nee shortly before 10pm on August 22 last year after approaching him and and a man called Paul Abraham from behind and firing shots at his "target" with a 9mm self-loading pistol. Nee - who had been watching the Liverpool v Manchester United game with friends including Mr Abraham at a house on Finch Lane - was struck in the midriff and fell to the ground, but may have been saved when the gun appeared to "malfunction" as the gunman stood over him.
He was then able to scramble to his feet and ran towards the Korbel family home, where he barged through the partially open front door. The assailant however, had a second firearm - a revolver - and continued to give chase, firing a further two shots with this weapon.
One of these passed through the door, struck Olivia's mum Cheryl Korbel in the hand then fatally hit the youngster in the chest. The other bullet became lodged in the doorframe.
Cashman denies murdering Olivia Pratt-Korbel, the attempted murder of Joseph Nee, wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm against Cheryl Korbel and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The trial continues.
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