The death of Olivia Pratt-Korbel brought horrifying flashbacks for a teenager who was shot in the chest in a similar random attack 11 years ago.
Olivia’s pointless killing has devastated 17-year-old Thusha Kamaleswaran – who was just five when she was caught up in gang warfare while dancing in her innocent uncle’s shop.
Thusha, paralysed from the waist down after a bullet hit her spine, told the Sunday People : “It made me feel really emotional and also angry and devastated that 11 years on this is still happening.
“The person who shot Olivia is not human to be able to just wipe out the life of a young girl like this in a split-second with a gun.”
Olivia, nine, was killed when a masked gunman burst into her house in Liverpool on Monday night after intended target Joseph Nee forced his way in. Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel, 46, had opened her front door after hearing a disturbance and was shot in the wrist. Tragic Olivia was shot in the chest and died.
Two men being questioned in connection with the killing were released on bail. They are aged 36 and 33.
Thusha offered support to the Olivia’s family, saying: “When I heard about Olivia I thought. ‘How can this happen again?’”
Thusha was shot in the chest on March 29, 2011, as she visited her uncle’s grocery shop in Stockwell, south London.
CCTV pictures of her dancing innocently just seconds before being shot in the chest and lying stricken on the floor shocked the nation – just as Olivia’s death has. Thusha’s heart stopped twice and she had emergency open-heart surgery in the shop, then a hospital op to remove the bullet.
Thusha said: “Despite my injuries I consider myself fortunate to be alive, Olivia wasn’t so lucky and it’s heartbreaking that she had her whole life to live and is now gone.
“I would urge anyone who knows anything about her killers to come forward. Olivia needs some kind of justice.” Thusha also believes sentencing on gun and knife crime is too soft – and revealed she lives in fear of those who shot her being released.
Nathaniel Grant, Kazeem Kolawole and Anthony McCalla were convicted in 2012 of grievous bodily harm to Thusha and an innocent shopper who was shot in the head but survived.
They were also convicted of the attempted murder of rival gang member Roshaun Bryan, who had run into the shop to escape the masked trio.
Grant, then 21, was told he would serve at least 17 years before being eligible for parole while Kolawole, 19, and McCalla, 20, got a minimum 14.
Thusha said: “Already nearly 11 years have passed and in a short time they will be free. I don’t know if they have been reformed in prison or if they may come out and come looking for me. It’s always in the back of my mind.”
Thusha, who lives in Ilford, east London, with mum Sharmila, dad Sasi, brother Thushan, 23, and sister Thushaika, 14, can now stand up using a walker and manage a few steps alone.
Next year she will take A-level biology, chemistry and maths, and hopes to have a career in medicine.
She said: “I’m now able to do most things myself in my wheelchair, which is great. I would love to dance again.
“I don’t yet know if I will be able to have children. Not only did what happened devastate my life but my family’s life was changed forever.”
But Thusha admits: “For Olivia’s family it is only just beginning. My parents had me to focus on but hers will not and that will be so hard. I hope they can gain some strength and hope from the love that has come their way since this happened.”
