A woman who had a "fling" with Thomas Cashman believed she was pregnant with his child the day before Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead.
The witness - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was called to give evidence to a jury yesterday, Monday. She claims that the 34-year-old defendant, of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, attended her home in the aftermath of the fatal shooting on the evening of August 22 last year.
The woman, with whom he was having an on-off fling, is said to have given him a change of clothing after being woken by him at her bedside. She also reported hearing him tell another man, Paul Russell, "I've done Joey" while he was present at her address.
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During his cross-examination of the witness this afternoon, defence barrister John Cooper KC read out a message to the court which she sent to a "close friend and confidante" on August 21 2022. The text read: "Have been thinking I’m pregnant, my head’s been up my a***."
Mr Cooper asked her: "One day before this tragic killing, you still thought you might be pregnant by Thomas Cashman?"
She responded: "My body still felt strange and I still hadn’t came on my period."
The woman then criticised Mr Cooper for being too slow in asking his questions, telling him: "We are repeating the same things I have been asked about since 10 o’clock this morning."
Mr Cooper asked the witness if she needed a break to “collect herself”. She replied: "You need to collect yourself."
He also cited messages in which she referenced "getting tested" during his questioning, having apparently been concerned that she may have a sexually transmitted disease after Cashman had supposedly been having relations with another woman. The witness said of this: "Once I found out he’d met with that girl, she’s just a wrongun.
"I went to get a chlamydia test to find out if I had anything. I’m a very clean person. I don’t sleep around. That’s why I was mad.
"I’d found that out and was thinking, 'have I got something?'. I was very agitated. Very frustrated, we’ll say. I was just making sure I didn’t have an infection."
Mr Cooper suggested the thought that Cashman may have “infected you” made her “very angry". The woman replied: "I was more frustrated."
He read out a further message in which she stated she had to "get it out there about him and that sl**". Mr Cooper asked her: "You were very angry?"
But she denied that was the case. He then enquired whether "the plan" was to make a "fake" Instagram account in order to inform Cashman's girlfriend, to which the woman replied "yep".
Mr Cooper asked: "Angry with him, aren’t you?".
She said: "No, frustrated."
Mr Cooper also referred to a text in which she told her friend: "it’s time to ruin him like he’s done me". The witness agreed she had sent this message, saying: “I sure did, I definitely did.”
Manchester Crown Court heard during the prosecution's opening last week that an armed man had been "relentlessly pursuing" Joseph Nee shortly before 10pm on August 22 last year after approaching him and a man called Paul Abraham from behind and firing shots at his "target" with a 9mm self-loading pistol. Nee - who had been watching the Liverpool v Manchester United game with friends including Mr Abraham at a house on Finch Lane in Dovecot - was struck in the midriff and fell to the ground, but may have been saved when the gun appeared to "malfunction" as the gunman 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 assailant however, had a second firearm - a revolver - and continued to give chase, firing a further two shots with this weapon.
One of these 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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