Thomas Cashman's defence team have claimed that the prosecution have a "weak case" and the evidence on which he has been tried for the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel suffers from "Cinderella syndrome".
The 34-year-old, of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, is accused of being the man who shot the nine-year-old girl dead in her own home on Kingsheath Avenue in Dovecot on the evening of August 22 last year. He is currently standing trial accused of her murder, but denies being the gunman or any involvement in the incident.
Professor John Cooper KC, defending, began his closing speech on Cashman's behalf this afternoon, Monday. In it, he told the jury: "The job of the defence is simply to test the prosecution case.
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"The prosecution bring this case, it is for the prosecution to prove their case. They are to prove it so you are satisfied so that you are sure of the defendant’s guilt - satisfied, so that you are sure, doesn’t deal with maybes.
"It doesn’t deal with suspicion of guilt, 'I suspect he did it'. It doesn’t deal with probably guilty - all of that, as a matter of law, is not guilty.
“You’re not here to decide who killed this young girl, or who had the weapons, or who shot at Mr Nee. What you’re here to do is road test to destruction the prosecution case against his man, to decide whether the evidence presented to you against this man stands up.
“If you are of the view it doesn’t, wherever your emotions lie, then it is your duty as citizens to return verdicts of not guilty. If you are of the view that it does not stand up, it is your duty to acquit.”
Mr Cooper criticised the prosecution for playing CCTV footage of the shooting during their own closing speech earlier in the day, saying: “How can the crown possibly say they’ve put emotion to one side when they finish their speech with a blend of horrific CCTV footage? As if you hadn’t quite got it.
"Do you feel a little bit insulted by that? You’re not children.
"You’ve got it. This involves the tragedy of a nine-year-old girl being shot.
"You get the tragedy. You get the brutality.
“To give you respect, you don’t need it played four times and then again at the end for no reason. You work it out, why was it played again?
"To play at your emotional strings, because the prosecution know they have a weak case. A weak case that means emotive images like that need to be thrown as you, a tsunami - amplified, in slow motion.
“You can’t quite to be relied upon to deliver the verdict people are screaming for. With every notorious trial, with every high profile trial, there is pressure to convict.
“We would submit it doesn’t help having multiple playings of the shooting. You don’t need to be drip fed amplified gunshots or constant repetitions that a nine year old girl was killed."
He also said the prosecution case had been tailored to fit the evidence in what he described as "Cinderella syndrome", akin to "squeezing it in and making it fit". Mr Cooper continued: "The crown’s repetition is that he is tailoring his story to fit the evidence.
“You may think it really is the prosecution tailoring its theory to fit what evidence they have. Circumstantial evidence of a particularly strong variety can assist.
"But that’s if it is strong in the first place. To put it bluntly, zero plus zero equals zero.
"That circumstantial evidence has to have some quality to it. But it is weak and of no assistance to you whatsoever, and in many respects defies logic."
Mr Cooper added: "t is, and I will ask you to remember this expression, what we will call an overinterpretation of the evidence by the crown An overinterpretation of the evidence so it fits their world view.
"It is the Cinderella syndrome. We will force this evidence into a shoe that doesn’t fit and play the banging video a couple of times."
His closing speech will continue tomorrow morning, Tuesday.
Manchester Crown Court heard during the prosecution's opening earlier this month that an armed man had been "relentlessly pursuing" Joseph Nee shortly before 10pm on the night in question after approaching him and a man called Paul Abraham from behind. The gunman then fired shots at his "target" with a 9mm self-loading pistol.
Nee, who had been watching the Liverpool v Manchester United game with friends including Paul Abraham at a house on Finch Lane in Dovecot, was struck in the midriff and fell to the ground. But he may have been saved when the gun appeared to "malfunction" as his assailant stood over him.
He was then able to scramble to his feet and ran towards the Korbel family home on Kingsheath Avenue, where he barged through the partially open front door. The attacker, however, had a second firearm - a revolver - and continued to give chase, firing a further two shots with this weapon.
One of these shots 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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