Footage has been released showing police cars following Chris Kaba shortly before he was shot dead by a Scotland Yard marksman.
Martyn Blake, 40, is currently on trial for the murder of the 24-year-old after he made a split-second decision to shoot him through the windscreen of an Audi car because he could run over officers in his bid to escape police ‘at any cost’.
Today in court, jurors were shown a video of officers following Mr Kaba through South London on September 5, 2022, after the registration of the Audi was flagged as being the same vehicle involved in a shotgun incident the night before.
When Mr Kaba attempted to flee by ramming a police vehicle, Blake was ‘horrified’ believing ‘one or many’ colleagues could be killed or ‘crushed’ by the driver using the car ‘as a weapon’, it was said.
But Prosecutor Tom Little, KC, accused the firearms officer of presenting a ‘false and exaggerated’ account in a vain attempt to justify his shooting.
Chris Kaba (pictured) was fatally shot on September 5, 2022, by Scotland Yard marksman Martyn Blake
Today in court, jurors were shown a video of officers following Mr Kaba through South London on September 5, 2022, after the registration of the Audi was flagged as being the same vehicle involved in a shotgun incident the night before
Mr Kaba recognised that he was being tailed by officers just seconds before a police car blocked him in on a residential street at 9.55pm.
He tried to get away by revving forward and then reversing into a police car, but ended up wedged between parked cars.
Ten officers swarmed around the Audi shouting ‘armed police, show me your hands’ seconds before Blake shot him in the head.
Mr Kaba was taken to hospital where he died hours later.
Afterwards, Blake provided an account claiming he opened fire because he feared there was an ‘imminent threat’ from the driver who was found later to be unarmed.
He said: ‘I had a genuine belief that either of us could be killed.
‘The driver then rammed our car, which was behind me, as well as a parked car and stopped, wedged.
‘Seeing the car was stopped I went round to the front and again challenged the driver saying something like ‘armed police, stop the vehicle’.
‘At this point the driver reversed back at great speed as fast as he could, directly towards my colleagues who were out on foot approaching the vehicle.
‘The male had already shown a propensity to use violence and was happy to use any means to escape.
Prosecutor Tom Little, KC, accused the firearms officer of presenting a ‘false and exaggerated’ account in a vain attempt to justify his shooting of Mr Kaba (pictured)
Helen Lumuanganu, who was visibly distraught, was seen being comforted by a female companion as she arrived at the Old Bailey on Wednesday
Prosper Kaba stared straight ahead as entered the court, where a Met Police marksman stands accused of the murder of his son, Chris
Police at the scene on Kirstall Gardens in Streatham, South London, in September 2022
‘I had a genuine held belief that one or many of my colleagues could be killed by the car, and that the driver would not stop his attempt to escape at any cost.
‘I then made the decision to incapacitate the driver due to the imminent threat to my colleagues and took one shot at the driver.
‘He immediately slumped and the car stopped.’
But Mr Little told the Old Bailey that the car was stationery at the time of the shooting and the victim posed no lethal threat, saying: ‘That account is false, we say, in parts, and exaggerated in other parts.’
Blake later changed the account of his movements when he saw footage of the incident revealing the Audi had only moved forward at 12mph before stopping ahead of the shooting.
But Patrick Gibbs, KC, defending, said Mr Kaba had been using his car as a ‘battering ram’ and jurors should consider ‘what did Martyn Blake honestly believe in the moment about the risk to his colleagues over and above himself.’
He said the role of a firearms officer was performed by volunteers who ‘accept the terrible responsibility for deciding whether or not to use lethal force in extremis’, adding: ‘He was doing his honest best according to his training to interpret what he was seeing and anticipate what would happen if he didn’t fire in a 17-second incident.’
Blake denies murder.
The case continues
