Olivia Pratt-Korbel 'picked up in blood-stained pyjamas' by police officer after nine-year-old gunned down at home
10 March 2023, 13:26 | Updated: 11 March 2023, 01:33
A police officer picked up Olivia Pratt-Korbel in her blood-stained pyjamas after she was shot in the chest at home, a court has heard.
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Olivia, 9, was killed by a gunman while standing on the stair at her home in Dovecot in Liverpool on August 22 last year.
Thomas Cashman, 34, is standing trial accused of her murder, after allegedly shooting at his intended target Joseph Nee, who had run into the house. The bullet passed through Olivia's mother Cheryl's hand and hit the schoolgirl in the chest.
After arriving at the scene of the crime, PC Daniel Cooper picked up Olivia and rushed her to hospital.
He told the court on Friday: "As I approached the open door, it was well lit by lighting inside the house. The front door was open and led into a small hallway and then stairs directly opposite the door.
“I could see a female sat with an obvious injury to her hand at the top of the stairs, crying and shouting hysterically.
“I noticed the feet and lower legs of a child, her sock stained red from what I assumed was blood. On the landing lay a small child.
“Olivia was lay on her back with her pyjamas on, also stained with blood."
PC Cooper said that he saw Olivia's lips were blue and she was lying limply.
He added: "I immediately noticed a small bullet entry wound to her chest area. My initial thought was we needed more room to help Olivia.
The officer told the court: "As I bent down to pick her up I noticed her eyes were open and her gaze was staring into nothing. Her lips were blue. Her body was limp.
“It is then I decided Olivia needed immediate medical attention far beyond what I could offer. I picked Olivia up into my arms and carried her down the stairs.”
The court also heard on Friday how Olivia's brother, Ryan Korbel realised that his sister had been shot.
In a video interview played to the court, Mr Korbel said he had been in his room when he heard three loud bangs.
He said: "The next thing I heard was footsteps across the landing. It was Olivia, she was running downstairs screaming: 'Mum, I'm scared'."
A police officer asked Mr Korbel if he knew what Olivia was scared of. He said: "No, she literally said 'I'm scared mummy, I'm scared'.
"Then I heard her footsteps. Downstairs she said it another two times 'I'm scared, I'm scared' and then everything else just kicked off."
Mr Korbel said he went to the landing and saw Olivia four or five steps up from the bottom of the staircase, a man lying on the floor and his mother "wrestling" with the door.
Olivia Pratt-Korbel's family release tribute to nine-year-old
He said: "My mum and the fella, who I believe was Joseph Nee, who I'm quite happy to name, then got the door shut. The door's burst back open but my mum's behind it.
"An arm's come round the door with a black handgun and another shot's gone off, it could be two, I can't remember. "Olivia was in hysterics, my mum was in hysterics, my 18-year-old sister was in hysterics, we all were."
Asked to describe the arm he saw appear around the door, Mr Korbel sad: "All I seen was an arm, a hand and a gun."
Korbel followed Mr Nee out into the road after the shooting and was "screaming abuse".
He said: "I didn't know my sister had been hit at this point. He collapsed in the middle of the road."
He said he went back inside and Nee was picked up by two men in an SUV.
Father of Olivia Pratt-Korbel says her death ‘cannot be in vain’
Mr Korbel told police: "My mum put Liv in my arms and told me to keep pressure on her chest.
"I didn't now why until I lifted her pyjama top up and seen a hole."
He said a neighbour came in and gave CPR to Olivia. Her lips had gone blue, she wasn't even bleeding out the gunshot wound," he said. "I knew it was over."
Opening the case earlier this week, David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, told the jury Cashman killed Olivia in a shooting which had gone "horribly wrong".
Cashman denies the murder of Olivia, the attempted murder of Nee, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Olivia's mother, and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The trial continues.
