Officer accused of Chris Kaba murder tells court he thought his colleague was 'about to die'
Metropolitan Police firearms officer Martyn Blake, who is charged with the murder of Chris Kaba in September 2022, has told a jury he pulled the trigger because he thought one of his colleagues "would be dead" and felt a duty to protect them.
Blake denies murdering 24-year-old Chris Kaba who was shot in the head during an armed police operation in Streatham, south London, two years ago.
Giving evidence in public for the first time at the Old Bailey on Monday, Martyn Blake said he was “filled with dread” as the Audi Mr Kaba was driving moved backwards and forwards with police officers surrounding the car.
Mr Blake fatally shot Mr Kaba through the windscreen of the Audi in Streatham, south-east London on September 5, 2022.
The court has already heard that when hemmed in by police cars, Mr Kaba, tried to ram his way past, between a marked police car and a Tesla parked nearby. Mr Blake is accused of murder, which he denies.
He told the jury that he felt “awful” following the shooting and has replayed events in his head since.
Asked what he was thinking immediately after the shooting, he said: “First of all I was relieved that the car noise subsided, relieved my colleagues were OK.
“Then I just felt awful.”
He told the court that since the shooting he thinks about what happened “every day, all the time” and replays it in his head a lot.
Members of Mr Kaba’s family sat in court listening to Mr Blake give evidence.
He told the court that prior to the shooting he’d never fired a gun at a real human being or seen a colleague fire a gun at a real human being.
He added he did not intend to kill, as the training he received is to fire to incapacitate. He said he fired because he wanted Chris Kaba’s vehicle to stop, and that he wasn’t angry, frustrated or annoyed before during or after he fired shots.
Working in firearms means that you face “the most dangerous and potentially the most violent” people in London, the officer told the court, adding: “It’s daunting but it’s a very rewarding job.”
Mr Blake described it as “probably the best job I would argue that you could have in the Metropolitan Police service, working with some of the best people I’ve worked with.”
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He told the jury he could hear wheel-spinning and the car’s engine revving as armed officers tried to get Mr Kaba to get out of the car. Mr Blake was asked by his barrister Patrick Gibbs KC why he had opened fire.
He said: “I had a genuine belief that there was an imminent threat to life, I thought one or more of my colleagues was about to die.
“I thought I was the only person with effective firearms cover at the time. If I hadn’t acted I thought one of my colleagues would be dead. I felt I had a duty to protect them at the time.”
The trial continues.
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