Olivia’s mother, Cheryl Korbel, says her daughter has had a huge impact on the community in the year since her death (Picture: PA)
The mother of Olivia Pratt-Korbel said her daughter has touched the community a year on from her death.
Cheryl Korbel said Olivia, who was murdered at just nine years old, was ‘cheeky’ and ‘loved life’.
Olivia died on August 22 last year when she was shot in her home by Thomas Cashman.
Cashman had chased convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee into her family home in Dovecot, Liverpool, and fired a shot which hit and killed Olivia.
A year on from the fatal shooting, Ms Korbel said she wanted her daughter to be remembered as her ‘sassy little princess’ who ‘loved dancing’.
Ms Korbel’s cousin, Antonia Elverson, added: ‘She packed so much in to them little nine years and whether she was only borrowed to us for nine years, we had the most amazing nine years and that’s something that we will live with and we’ll carry her through with us.’
Thomas Cashman has been jailed for Olivia’s murder (Picture: PA)
Olivia had a huge impact on her local community and is now remembered with a garden at Court Hey Park in Knowsley, which features a butterfly mosaic and will be used by schoolchildren for workshops.
Ms Korbel said: ‘It’s lovely. The kids can’t wait to come down in September and to start doing the workshops at the garden.
‘Even when I go to the school, I still see the mums and dads and it’s lovely to still have that connection with the school and the mums and dads and the kids.
‘They’ve all been touched by Liv, one way or another.’
Ms Korbel reads a statement outside Manchester Crown Court following the sentencing of Cashman earlier this year (Picture: Reuters)
Talking about the last year, Ms Korbel said she has felt ‘numb’ but is grateful for support from family and friends.
She said she feels like Olivia’s death was ‘yesterday’ and that she ‘blinked and the last 12 months have just flew by’.
She plans to ‘constantly mention’ Olivia’s name on the first anniversary of her murder.
Olivia’s death was one of three fatal shootings within a week in Liverpool last August, with council worker Ashley Dale, 28, killed on August 21 and 22-year-old Sam Rimmer fatally injured on August 16.
Olivia has been remembered in her community through a garden in Court Hey Park in Knowsley (Picture: PA)
Ms Elverson said gun crime at the time had been ‘out of control’.
She said: ‘There’s no words to describe that. Sam and Ashley – we remember listening to that on the news and we were absolutely heartbroken for their families.
‘No one would have said to us that literally 24 hours after Ashley, we would be living that nightmare.
‘It hasn’t just rocked the community. It hasn’t just rocked the city, it’s rocked the country, it’s rocked the nation. Gun crime has to stop. Knife crime has to stop.’
Cheryl Korbel said she has felt ‘numb’ over the last year since her daughter’s death (Picture: PA)
She added: ‘This pain is never going to go away for us. Like Cheryl said at the end of the trial, our life sentence has just began.
‘Don’t let another family have to go through that life sentence too.’
Cashman ‘ruthlessly pursued’ his intended target Nee into the Korbel family home.
Seconds earlier, Olivia had got out of bed and ran to her mother screaming ‘I’m scared mummy, I’m scared’ after hearing a commotion outside.
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She was standing on the stairs when Cashman fired at Nee as he tried to barge his way in, with the bullet going through the front door, through Ms Korbel’s right hand and into Olivia’s chest.
She was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and rushed straight to the resuscitation room, but was declared dead at 11.15pm.
Cashman, who jurors heard had planned Nee’s ‘execution’, was convicted of Olivia’s murder after just over nine hours of deliberations following a three-week trial. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 42 years.
He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Nee, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Ms Korbel, and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
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Nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot and killed in her own home.