CRIMEUNITED KINGDOM
UK man receives life sentence for killing 9-year-old girl
3 hours ago3 hours ago
Olivia Pratt-Korbel was killed in her home last August when a drug dealer tried to gun down one of his rivals in the northwestern English city of Liverpool.
https://p.dw.com/p/4PevT
A man in the UK was on Monday sentenced for more than four decades for fatally shooting a nine-year-old.
Olivia Pratt-Korbel was killed last August in the northwestern English city of Liverpool in what was the third deadly shooting in the city within a week.
The man was given a life sentence, which entails a minimum term of 42 years.
The suspect’s trial was held for more than three weeks under tight security.
The shooter, a drug dealer, was also convicted of the attempted murder of Joseph Nee, who was his intended target.
A jury also found him guilty of injuring the victim’s mother, Cheryl Korbel.
The gunman opened fire on a Liverpool street as he was chasing Nee, who was his rival.
Nee tried to force his way into Korbel’s home in an attempt to escape the gunman, and Korbel blocked the door.
The bullet that killed Olivia was fired through the front door, hitting her in the chest. It also hit her mother in the hand.
Defendant fails to attend court
The defendant denied firing the shots and refused to appear in the dock to hear judge Amanda Yip read out the sentence.
The convicted gunman’s lawyer John Cooper said that the he did not come to court as he felt proceedings were “turning into a circus.”
“The defendant has not acknowledged his responsibility for Olivia’s death and so has demonstrated no remorse,” the judge said.
“His failure to come into court is further evidence of that.”
Yip called the shooting a “planned execution,” adding that although he had not killed his intended target, the shooter showed no regard for other people endangered by gunfire.
sdi/dj (AFP, AP)
