A nine-year-old girl was killed by a gunman after he ‘ruthlessly pursued’ his victim, a court has heard.

Olivia Pratt-Korbel screamed ‘Mum, I’m scared’ seconds before she was shot by alleged gunman Thomas Cashman.

She was stood behind her mum Cheryl Korbel, 46, on the stairs when the bullet hit her in the chest.

Olivia had just been frightened out of bed after hearing a commotion outside her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, as Cashman, 34, allegedly shot Joseph Nee at around 10pm on August 22 last year.

Nee, bleeding and injured, saw the light from Ms Korbel’s doorway when she opened her front door to find out what was going on.

The mum ‘in a panic’ tried to shut the door on Nee as Cashman pursued and fired at him with a revolver, it is alleged.

Jurors heard Ms Korbel couldn’t close the door properly on Nee as she had left it ‘on the snib’ after two neighbours came round for a cup of tea.

The bullet missed Nee, went through the front door, through Ms Korbel’s right hand and hit Olivia in the centre of her chest, prosecutors said.

David McLachlan, prosecuting, said: ‘Cheryl Korbel said “I’ve been shot”.

‘She turned round and saw her daughter, Olivia, at the bottom of the stairs – she referred to her as “the baby”, as we do in this area.

‘She said “I remember when I turned round and realised the baby was right behind me… because she’d come… obviously come down the stairs ’cause she’d heard… she went all floppy and her eyes went to the back of her head. And I realised that she must’ve been hit – because I didn’t know until then – and I lifted her top up and the bullet had got her right in the middle of the chest.”‘

She was saying to her daughter, ‘Stay with me, baby’ as Nee slumped on the hallway floor, the court heard.

Cashman allegedly tried to shoulder-charge the door open and his arm came round the door, holding a black handgun, before another shot rang out and the bullet splintered the door frame.

Jurors were told how Olivia’s older brother, Ryan Korbel, described the schoolgirl running downstairs screaming: ‘Mum I’m scared’, then her sister, Chloe Korbel, heard their mum screaming that ‘Livia had been hit’.

A neighbour told police she was in bed when she heard two bangs outside, then two ‘muffled bangs’ followed by ‘the worst screaming I’ve ever heard in my life’.

She then heard Chloe on the phone saying: ‘Where are they, where are they? She is dying.’

Olivia was pronounced dead at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital later that night.

Earlier on jurors were told how Nee was watching a football match at the house of another man, Timothy Naylor, in Dovecot, Liverpool.

When he left this house at 10pm, Cashman allegedly ran after him.

The jury was shown CCTV of the man who followed Nee, with the prosecution alleging this person was Cashman, who ran behind him and fired three shots from a 9mm self-loading pistol, one of which hit Nee in the midriff.

The prosecution allege Nee stumbled and Cashman stood over him and tried to fire again but, possibly because the pistol malfunctioned, he was unable to complete his ‘task’ and kill Nee.

Nee managed to get inside the house and Cashman allegedly fired again into the doorframe, after getting his arm around the door, before running away.

Nee stumbled out of the house, collapsed in the middle of the road and used his mobile phone.

He was picked up by five men in a black car before police arrived, the court heard.

Mr McLachlan said: ‘It is about the ruthless pursuit by Thomas Cashman to shoot Joseph Nee at all costs without any consideration for anyone else in the community.

‘Such was the planning and ruthless nature of this attack that Thomas Cashman, we say, went armed and was in possession of two loaded firearms.

‘When, in all likelihood one of them failed, he simply turned to the other one to execute, literally, his plan.

‘Thomas Cashman’s actions resulted in Joseph Nee being injured, Cheryl Korbel being injured, and most tragically of all in this case, Olivia Pratt-Korbel being killed.’

The prosecutor continued: ‘The shooting had gone horribly wrong.

‘This is what this case is all about. This is serious business, as you will appreciate.’

Following the shooting, Cashman allegedly fled to the house of a woman who he knew, who can not be identified for legal reasons.

Cashman, of Grenadier Drive, Liverpool, denies murdering Olivia, the attempted murder of Joseph Nee, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Olivia’s mum, and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The trial, expected to last around four weeks, was adjourned until later on Tuesday.

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