A Metropolitan Police firearms officer may have been “angry, frustrated, and annoyed” when he shot Chris Kaba in the head through the windscreen of a car, a court heard. The Old Bailey heard it was “not necessary” for operational firearms commander Martyn Blake to fire his gun after police had boxed in the 24-year-old driver. Blake, 40, denies murdering Mr. Kaba during a police stop in Streatham, south London, on 5 September 2022.
Opening the murder trial on Wednesday, prosecutor Tom Little KC told the jury there is “unassailable evidence” that reveals the shooting was “not reasonably justified or justifiable.” He highlighted that for a firearms officer to shoot and kill, it should be a remedy of last resort. Little stated, “The body-worn footage and footage from cameras on police vehicles reveals, we say, that it was not necessary to shoot.”
The jury heard that Blake did not know who Mr. Kaba was when he shot him. The court was played a reconstruction where Mr. Kaba had tried to evade a police car blocking his path in front, hitting it and a parked car nearby. Subsequently, he reversed into a police vehicle blocking him at the rear. However, the Audi Q8 was stationary when he was shot, with his hands on the steering wheel.
“We say that on careful analysis of all the evidence, nothing Chris Kaba did in the seconds before he was shot justified this defendant’s decision to shoot,” stated Little. He further added, “Ultimately, we say, on the evidence, there was no real or immediate threat to the life of anybody present at the scene when the defendant fired the fatal shot.” Blake, formerly known as officer NX121, denies murder, and the trial is scheduled to last for three weeks.
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