Met Police marksman who shot dead Chris Kaba tells trial his actions were lawful, proportionate and necessary
A police officer who shot dead Chris Kaba has said his actions were lawful, proportionate and necessary as he was trying to save the lives of his colleagues.
A police officer who shot dead Chris Kaba has said his actions were lawful, proportionate and necessary as he was trying to save the lives of his colleagues.
Metropolitan Police firearms officer Martyn Blake, 40, denies murdering the 24-year-old who was shot in the head through the windscreen of an Audi car during a police stop in Streatham, south London, in September 2022.
The Old Bailey heard a detailed witness statement Mr Blake gave to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following the shooting.
Blake said in his statement that he was truly sorry for the enormous distress felt by Mr Kabas family, but he believed his colleagues were in imminent danger of being crushed or killed by a car used on the night.
Moments before the shooting, Mr Kaba had tried to escape by driving forward and then reversing into a police car which had blocked him in, jurors heard.
Police had been looking for the Audi after its registration was linked to reports of gunshots in Brixton, south London, the night before.
Blake, known by the cypher NX121, said it was his unequivocal belief that the driver was using his car as a weapon and was oblivious to the danger he was causing.
Chris Kaba (pictured) was fatally shot on September 5, 2022, by Met Police firearms officer Martyn Blake
The police officer said he had a a very clear impression of at least three or four officers around the Audi in very close proximity to it as it moved back.
Blake said he took a position with his firearm and pointed his green laser dot in the direction of the driver in the hope that he would stop, but it did not work and he could hear the engine revving.
He then heard a sudden roar of the engine and said if the vehicle reversed, the officers would be have been taken underneath.
If the car managed to travel even a short distance, the officers would have been taken up underneath the front or rear wheels, Blake said.
None of his colleagues were wearing helmets and nothing suggested that he (the driver) was listening to the officers - it was the exact opposite.
Blake said he felt that in that split second that the only thing appropriate to do was to incapacitate the driver.
Blake, 40, has denied murdering Mr Kaba (pictured) after he fired a single shot through the windscreen of the 24-year-olds Audi Q8
Mr Kaba was shot when he had been surrounded by six police BMW X5s in Streatham Hill, southwest London
Helen Lumuanganu, the mother of Chris Kaba, was visibly distraught and was seen being comforted by a female companion as she arrived at the Old Bailey on October 2
Prosper, the father of Chris Kaba, arrives outside the Old Bailey last week
In his statement, he explained: I believe the discharge of my firearm in those circumstances was lawful, proportionate and necessary. I fired to save the lives of my colleagues.
It was my genuine belief that if I had not incapacitated the driver, the vehicle would have continued to move forward with one or more of my colleagues going under and being killed.
He said he believed he had no other legal option available in that split second and if he had not done anything, the driver could have moved off and I would have been watching one or more of my colleagues die.
The trial before Mr Justice Goss continues.
