Family handout
A police officer who shot an unarmed man dead has said he is “truly sorry” for the “enormous distress” felt by the family, but insisted it was “entirely proportionate, lawful and necessary”.
Metropolitan Police firearms officer Martyn Blake, 38, denies murdering 24-year-old Chris Kaba who was shot in the head during an armed police operation in Streatham, south London, in September 2022.
The Old Bailey has been hearing a detailed witness statement Mr Blake gave to the the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following the shooting.
He said he believed his his colleagues were in “grave danger” of being crushed or killed by a car used on the night of the shooting.
Mr Blake described the events of that night as “extremely violent and dangerous” lasting “just a few seconds”.
In his statement, Mr Blake said Mr Kaba had been driving his Audi vehicle at “great speed” and he had “a propensity to use violence”.
“It was a genuine held belief that my colleagues could have be killed at any cost,” Mr Blake told the police watchdog, and he confirmed he “took one aimed shot at the driver”.
Mr Blake was a qualified tactical adviser and operational firearms commander at the time of the shooting.
He had been the navigator in one of the marked police vehicles.
“These events have had a considerable effect on me,” the court heard from the statement.
“The fact I’ve taken the life of another was deeply shocking.”
But he insisted he “acted lawfully and appropriately to save the lives of my colleagues”.
He added he was “well aware of the enormous distress to Mr Kaba and his family” and was “truly sorry”.
The vehicle Mr Kaba was driving had been linked to a shooting the previous night in Brixton, south London, and the firearm had not been recovered.
- Listen to In Court: Chris Kaba Killing – Police Officer on Trial twice weekly on BBC Sounds
Mr Blake said the armed police operation that night had been “very dynamic and fast moving” and that he believed the driver of the Audi they were tracking was “highly experienced and dangerous”.
“I remember feeling quite frightened and filled with dread as I did not know what would happen,” the statement read.
“I could see the vehicle … a black male, who looked comparatively young and athletic. His hands were on the wheels.
“I did fear for the lives of my colleagues. The driver of Audi was starting to use his car as a weapon. I believe I would have been killed.”
‘Tactical option’
Mr Blake told the IOPC that Mr Kaba had “purposefully and intentionally” rammed the vehicle “with no regard for his life or lives of officers”.
“I had good firearms cover,” the court heard in his statement. “I pointed my green laser dot in his direction to try and indicate to him to stop. As the car has paused, I could hear the revving really high.
“The driver made a sudden and quick movement.
“I heard a sudden roar of the engine and I saw the movement of his hands.”
He said in that split second he made the decision to “exercise some tactical option to incapacitate the driver.
“If I had done nothing, I would have failed my colleagues,” he added.
The prosecution claims that it was not necessary for Mr Blake to fire a bullet into Mr Kaba’s head and that he became angry, frustrated and annoyed before he used his gun.
The trial continues.
