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ANGER may have played a part in a Metropolitan Police firearms officer’s decision to shoot to kill Chris Kaba, a court heard today.
The 24-year-old black man was shot in the head while sitting in his car in Streatham, south London, on September 6 2022.
The officer, Martyn Blake, is on trial at the Old Bailey charged with Mr Kaba’s murder.
Prosecutor Tom Little KC told jurors during the first day of trial that Mr Blake’s decision to use lethal force was “not reasonably justified or justifiable.”
He said: “The defendant did not know the man he shot. What he was thinking at the time only he knows.
“But you may want to consider in this case whether the requests that were made to Chris Kaba by the police that he did not obey caused the defendant to become angry, frustrated and annoyed.”
Mr Little said that using a firearm should be a “remedy of last resort” for officers, but added: “The body-worn footage and footage from cameras on police vehicles reveals, we say, that it was not necessary to shoot.”
The court heard that the vehicle was stationary at the time Mr Blake shot Mr Kaba through the windscreen.
The victim had just reversed a short distance backwards, hitting the front of a police vehicle that was blocking it in, having previously attempted to drive forward, jurors heard.
A dashcam video was also played in court, showing the car swarmed by armed officers.
Mr Little said: “We say that on careful analysis nothing Chris Kaba did in the second before he was shot justified this defendant’s decision to shoot.”
His family is being supported by legal charity Inquest, whose research shows that there have been 1,904 deaths in or following police custody or contact since 1990.
Of the victims, 83 were fatally shot by police in England and Wales.
Only one officer has been found guilty of manslaughter, in 2021 for the death of Dalian Atkinson following the use of force, and none of murder.
Mr Kaba’s case is the fourth related to police shootings that have resulted in a prosecution.
Mr Blake denies committing murder. His trial is expected to continue for up to three weeks.
