02 October 2024 , 15:23
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Met Police officer Martyn Blake is accused of killing 24-year-old Chris Kaba on September 6, 2022. Mr Kaba died after being shot once in the head through the windscreen of an Audi car
A firearms officer accused of shooting dead a man in south London has gone on trial accused of his murder.
Martyn Blake, 40, is facing trial for the killing of 24-year-old Chris Kaba on September 6, 2022. Mr Kaba died after being shot once in the head through the windscreen of an Audi car in Streatham while he had both hands on the steering wheel, a court heard.
Blake, who in the case was formerly referred to as NX121, has denied the charge against him. His trial is being heard before Mr Justice Goss at the Old Bailey and is expected to go on for up to three weeks.
Opening the case, prosecutor Tom Little KC told jurors it was "not necessary" for firearms officer Martyn Blake to "fire a bullet into Chris Kaba’s head" as he sat in the driver’s seat of an Audi. Mr Little KC said that after Mr Kaba’s car was stopped by officers there was "no space for Chris Kaba to have escaped and driven away into the night" when Blake shot him dead. Mr Little KC said that it was "not justifiable" to shoot Mr Kaba dead. Instead prosecutors implored a jury to consider if Martyn had become "angry, frustrated and annoyed" after Mr Kaba had not obeyed his requests.
Members of campaign group Justice For Chris Kaba outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court after an earlier hearing ( Image: PA)
Mr Little KC told the court that for a firearms officer "to shoot and kill it should, understandably, be a remedy of last resort". But he said that "on careful analysis nothing Chris Kaba did in the seconds before he was shot justified this defendant’s decision to shoot".
He said: "There can be no doubt that the defendant intended to incapacitate and we say to kill Chris Kaba. He shot him once straight to the head. He was trained to use a firearm and if necessary to shoot knowing that almost inevitable death would follow and that is what he did. The defendant did so when Chris Kaba was sitting in the driver’s seat of an Audi motor vehicle with both hands on the steering wheel."
Mr Little KC said 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 the fatal shot". He said even if Mr Kaba had managed to escape, he would have been followed by a police helicopter in the air.
Protestors walked the streets after Chris Kaba’s death ( Image: PA)
Mr Little KC told the jury: "At the heart of this case therefore is the decision making of one man. The defendant. This case involves a decision by this defendant to shoot with an intention to kill. It was a decision taken to use lethal force with a firearm by a firearms officer in the Metropolitan Police.
"It was a decision to shoot which was taken when, we say, the unassailable evidence of what actually took place that night reveals that it was not reasonably justified or justifiable. For a firearms officer to shoot and kill it should, understandably, be a remedy of last resort.
"The body worn footage and footage from cameras on police vehicles, reveals, we say, that it was not necessary to shoot. The immediate risk to both the defendant and his fellow officers did not, we say, justify - at the point when the trigger was pressed - firing a bullet into Chris Kaba’s head. That is why, we say, that this is a case of murder rather than the use of lawful self-defence of another by the defendant."
Blake denies the charge. The trial continues.