Chris Kaba shooting: Met Police officer feared for his life, court told

Officer feared Chris Kaba would kill him - court

A firearms officer who raised his gun at the same time as a colleague who shot Chris Kaba dead during a police vehicle stop feared he would be run over and killed, a jury has been told.

The unnamed Met Police officer, referred to as DS87, was standing next to marksman Martyn Blake when Mr Blake shot the 24-year-old in an Audi that had been stopped in Streatham, south London, on 5 September 2022.

Mr Blake, 40, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murdering Mr Kaba, a charge he denies.

Giving evidence, DS87 told the jury: "I have got no doubt in my mind, given a moment longer the Audi would have come forward and I would have gone under."

'I felt in fear for my life'

Mr Kaba, who had been driving a blue Audi linked to a shooting incident in Brixton the previous evening, was being followed by police on the night of the shooting.

When the officers stopped the car, he drove it forwards and backwards into other vehicles in a bid to "ram" his way out, the court heard.

Mr Blake then shot Mr Kaba in the forehead through the windscreen.

Asked what his thoughts were as his colleague opened fire, DS87 said: "I felt in fear for my life. Had the actions not been taken at that point, I would have died or been injured."

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DS87, who was in charge of initiating the enforced stop of Mr Kaba, was one of three occupants of an armed response vehicle (ARV) that had spotted the Audi in Camberwell that evening, the court heard.

The officers began to follow the car and had been joined by three more ARVs by the time the Audi was stopped.

Body-worn camera footage showed DS87 getting out of the police car behind the Audi.

At this point, he said, there were "revving" and "crunching" sounds and the smell of burnt rubber as the Audi was driven forwards and backwards to "ram its way out".

The officer was heard to shout, "armed police, show me your hands" as he approached the front-passenger door, which he found to be locked.

He told jurors: "At the point of contact on arriving at the passenger door, it was clear the vehicle was trying to make off."

DS87 said he then hit the passenger-side window with the barrel of his gun to try to break it and attract the driver's attention.

"When police shout, 'stop police', we usually have compliance," he told the jury. "It's not something I have experienced before."

Breaking the window had the potential to give him "less lethal options", such as the use of a Taser, and may have helped him to communicate with the driver, the officer said.

In the footage, Mr Kaba can be seen hunched down in the driver's seat with his hands visible.

DS87 can be seen running around to the front of the Audi. When he raised his own semi-automatic carbine, he was standing beside Mr Blake. It was at this point the accused officer shot Mr Kaba.

'Never experienced that level of threat'

Defence barrister Patrick Gibbs KC asked DS87 whether he had been thinking of backing away from the Audi in that moment.

The officer replied: "Yes. So my initial thought was to move around to the front of the vehicle to contain it.

"My next thought was to close down the vehicle, the use of the firearm, make the person surrender and not cause a threat to officers.

"As soon as I came around and saw the vehicle was reversing, I knew it was going to come forward. I was in a position I didn't want to be in."

He added: "I had never experienced that level of threat from someone, certainly when pointing a firearm.... It was clear to me even if I have taken a shot, the vehicle would have moved forward.

"It was instinct or a way of survival to begin to withdraw and get away from the vehicle. It happened so quickly."

The officer gave evidence from behind a screen as Mr Kaba's family sat in the well of the court.

The trial continues.