Police officer who shot and killed Chris Kaba gives evidence to ongoing murder trial

Chris Kaba

The police officer who shot and killed Chris Kaba gave evidence to the murder trial at the Old Bailey last week.

Martyn Blake killed Chris, an unarmed black man, on 5 September 2022 in Streatham, in south London. Blake shot Chris in the head through the windscreen of his Audi late in the evening.

Cops had been following the car as they suspected it was one of the vehicles involved in a non-fatal shooting the previous evening.

Police drivers then surrounded Chris’s car and attempted to block it from moving.

The prosecution argued last week that there was no “reasonably justified or justifiable” reason for Blake to use lethal force. Tom Little QC argued, “There was no real or immediate threat to the life of anybody present at the scene and at the all-important point in time when the defendant fired that fatal shot.”

Cops planned to approach the Audi from behind and surround it by overtaking. But they said they were forced to change tactics and use a more risky form of forced stop.

Blake, a trained firearms officer who denies murder, apologised for the “enormous distress” felt by Chris’s family. He has said, “The fact I’ve taken the life of another was deeply shocking.”

In statements he made to the Metropolitan police and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), he said that he believed his colleagues were in danger of being killed by the car Chris was driving.

Chris had reversed and seemed to be preparing to drive forwards at high speed. Blake said that using his weapon was “entirely proportionate, lawful and necessary”. “I remember feeling quite frightened and filled with dread as I did not know what would happen.

“I could see the vehicle… a black male, who looked comparatively young and athletic. His hands were on the wheels.”

“I did fear for the lives of my colleagues. The driver of the Audi was starting to use his car as a weapon. I believe I would have been killed.”

He said he thought there were three or four other officers “in very close proximity” to the car.

“If I had done nothing, I would have failed my colleagues,” he said.

Little has countered that the Audi was going no faster than 12mph at the time of the shooting, as revealed by its onboard computer. The prosecution has also said that the police cars moved closer to Chris’ car to surround him more tightly shortly after the initial stop, leaving him with little option of escaping.

Little said of Blake’s account that, “In a number of material respects, that account is false and exaggerated in other parts.” The trial continues.