August 23rd, 2022.
Lots of things appear to be happening as I have been on my midsummer break. Unusually for the UK, in which August is known as the “Silly Season” as nothing ever happens and the media scratch around for stories, there has been an abundance of news, much of it depressing.
Since my last report on the violence in the UK, it has been revealed that the 87-year-old man, murdered on his mobility scooter, was stabbed several times in the neck, chest and abdomen. His alleged assailant appeared in court today, charged with murder and possessing an offensive weapon.
Meanwhile, in Liverpool, a 28-year-old woman was shot dead in a home invasion. Her door had been battered in and she was found dead in her garden in the early hours of Sunday morning. Ms Ashley Dale, a council worker was apparently shot in a case of mistaken identity.
Ms Dale was the half-sister of 16-year-old Lewis Dunne, who was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity in Liverpool in 2015.
To add disaster upon disaster a nine-year-old girl has died after being shot in Liverpool. A police account of the incident makes for grim reading.
A nine-year-old girl who was shot dead when a gunman chased another man into her home has been named as Olivia Pratt-Korbel by Merseyside Police.
A murder investigation is under way after the assailant opened fire “with complete disregard,” killing the girl and injuring two others in the property in Liverpool.
Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen explained on Tuesday how the gunman gained entry to Olivia’s home. He said that two men who were walking down Kingsheath Avenue on Monday night were approached and shot at by a lone person – potentially a male – wearing a balaclava and wielding a handgun.
“Responding to the sounds of those gunshots, Olivia’s mum Cheryl appears to have opened the door to her property in order to see what was going on outside,” he said.
One of the men, a 35-year-old, who was fleeing the gunman appeared to have seen the door opening and ran towards it and “forced” his way inside “despite the very best efforts of Cheryl”.
Detective Chief Superintendent Kameen continued: “As that was taking place the person with the gun followed the male to this property. That person has also tried to force entry to the property and has managed, it would appear, to put their hand through the open door as Cheryl continued to try and close it.“A shot has been fired which we believe has hit Cheryl, injuring her and then fatally wounding Olivia. Olivia at that time, we believe, was stood directly behind Cheryl.”
Chief Constable Serena Kennedy added: “It is believed that one of the injured parties, a 35-year-old man, was being chased by a man armed with a gun who was firing at him. “The man being chased forced his way into Olivia’s house and the offender ran in after him, firing a number of shots with complete disregard for Olivia and her family, who had no connection with the gunman or the man who forced his way in.
“Sadly, Olivia was fatally wounded when the gunman fired at the man who was trying to get into the house, and her mum also suffered a gunshot to her wrist.
Source Daily Telegraph 23 August 2022.
On the same night, a woman was found with a fatal stab wound in her chest in a pub car park in Kirkby.
Police are also still searching for two people who fled on electric bikes after Sam Rimmer, who was in his early 20s, was shot in Toxteth on 16 August. Mr Rimmer has survived.
On a different note, in an event that went largely unnoticed in the UK a crowd of thousands gathered at Béal na Bláth in Co Cork to commemorate the centenary of the death of Michael Collins in an ambush.
In a first, the “Big Fellow” who founded the Irish Fine Gael political party was commemorated in an address by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Mr Martin is the first leader of Fianna Fail to address a commemorative event for Michael Collins. Mr Martin was joined by Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar, making it the first time the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – the parties associated with the opposing sides in the Civil War – addressed the event in Béal na Bláth.
“It is perhaps the greatest tragedy of Collins’ death that it deprived us of our best hope for reconciliation,” said Mr Martin.
Although a controversial figure, Michael Collins, who could be ruthless but pragmatic, was trying to forge a path to eventual unity in Eire. I have no axe to grind, but just a historical interest in Collins. I cannot help but wonder what Eire and the island of Ireland would be if he had survived. Would the troubles have been as bad, and given the current state of the Northern Ireland protocol, would that have turned out differently?
His successor, who became leader of the republic, Eamon De Valera certainly took Ireland down a different road from that that Michael Collins would have followed.