One thing that the not-guilty verdict, delivered by an Old Bailey jury yesterday in the controversial case of the police shooting of Chris Kaba, failed to provide was any clarity.
Court protests: a large crowd gathered outside the Old Bailey last night to hold a vigil for Chris Kaba
For while Kaba’s grieving family and friends protested last night outside the Central Criminal Court, and politicians queued up to air their support or scepticism around the Metropolitan Police, despite all the video footage of the fatal incident in Kirkstall Gardens, Streatham Hill, which was taken from police helicopter and body cams, there was no clear picture of what really lay behind the deployment of so many armed Met officers that September evening in 2022.
Until, that is, today, when the judge, Mr Justice Goss, lifted reported restrictions on Kaba’s criminal past – details which were withheld from the jury before they took less than four hours to declare police marksman Martyn Blake as not guilty of murder.
Blake had fired a single shot from his high-powered police-issue rifle, shooting Kaba in the head. Kaba was unarmed, one hand on the steering wheel of the Audi he was driving, the other raised.
But then, juries never do convict police officers of murder. Since 1990, there have been 83 fatal shootings by police officers in Britain. And not a single conviction. Almost half of those killed have been black.
In the Kaba case, as with many, questions may be asked of the Crown Prosecution Service for choosing to prosecute a murder charge, with its very high level of proof required of intent to kill, rather than the lesser, manslaughter charge.
Devastated: how today’s Morning Star front page reported the murder trial verdict
The jury was denied much information about Kaba’s background, which could only be circumstantial, giving context to the police operation, but not admissable in the murder trial.
The Met Police, and the Establishment that supports them, will welcome the release of that information today, which characterises Kaba as a life-long, serial criminal, a “core member” of a notorious gang who often resorted to violence.
The information will be used as some kind of post-trial justification, to deflect from the serious questions about the police’s continued misuse of force on our streets.
Today, we were told that Kaba, 24, was “accused” of being the gunman in a murder attempt on a rival in a Hackney nightclub shooting in the days before he was killed.
On the night of that shooting, August 30, 2022, Kaba at the scene in the same Audi Q8 he was driving on the night he was shot, six days later. The same vehicle was also linked to a shooting in Bromley in May 2022, in which two people were targeted with a shotgun.
These details were discussed during the Old Bailey trial in legal argument, with the jury reclused, unaware of the information, by order of the judge.
Jurors were allowed to hear that the Audi was also used as one of two getaway vehicles the night before Kaba was killed, after three masked men fired a shotgun at unknown targets outside a Brixton school.
After the police operation in a residential side street in Streatham, no weapons were found in the Audi. A black balaclava was found in Kaba’s pocket.
Police road block: the scene in Kirkstall Gardens the morning after the Kaba chase, the black Audi rammed into a police car
Later in September, Kaba was due to face a court hearing, where police had made an application for a gang injunction, used to place restrictions on people involved in gang violence. Kaba had previously been the subject of an interim version of the order, but it had elapsed while he was in prison for other convictions.
The prosecution was not allowed to put this character evidence to the jury during the murder trial; it was refused by the judge. Blake didn’t know it was Kaba who was driving the car, only that the Audi had been linked to a shooting the night before.
The judge also rejected an application made on behalf of Kaba’s mother to extend reporting restrictions beyond the end of the trial.
‘Principal gunman’: Chris Kaba’s criminal past was not revealed to the murder case jury
Patrick Gibbs KC, barrister for the defendant, described Kaba as the “principal gunman” of the Brixton-based 67 gang. According to a police report which, again, was not allowed in evidence to the court, the gang is in an “active and violent dispute with a rival faction of street gangs”, including “numerous firearms discharges, stabbings and murders” since 2014.
Kaba had appeared in drill rap videos online with other 67 members.
The gang’s members are “embedded in a culture of drug supply, serious violence, firearms and knife possession” and are part of the “highest harm street gang in Lambeth”, according to the police report.
Kaba had convictions dating back to when he was aged 13, for offences including stabbing with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, a knife-enabled gang assault when the victim was stabbed and had his arm broken, and two other knife offences.
In 2015, when he was 17, Kaba was convicted of affray and possession of an offensive weapon – a belt – over an incident in which a revolver-style handgun was recovered nearby, but the weapon wasn’t linked to him and he was never charged in connection with it.
In 2017, Kaba, then 19, was jailed for four years after being convicted of possessing an imitation firearm.
In August 2020, Kaba was handed a five-month prison sentence for failing to stop and possession of a knife, which was discarded from a vehicle.
At the time of his death, Kaba was due to stand trial for the attempted murder of Brandon Malutshi in the Hackney dance floor shooting. Malutshi was affiliated with the Wandsworth Road-based 1-7 gang.
Gang accomplices of Kaba’s, Marcus Pottinger and Shemiah Bell were jailed for nine and 10 years respectively after they were found guilty of wounding with intent to cause GBH and possession of a firearm to cause fear of violence. A third member of Kaba’s gang, Connell Bamgboye, was sentenced to five and half years in prison after he was convicted of firearms offence. Bamgboye’s passport was found in the Audi on the night Kaba was shot.
Not one conviction: there have been 83 people shot and killed by police since 1990
Following yesterday’s not guilty verdict in the Martyn Blake case, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley appeared to question the system that had brought him to trial when he said: “No police officer is above the law, but we have been clear the system holding police to account is broken.”
The Commissioner said that Blake had paid “a huge personal and professional sacrifice” in the two years since the shooting. He said the officer had made “a split-second decision on what he believed was necessary to protect his colleagues and to protect London”.
Keba’s family continue to feel aggrieved, saying that the verdict was “painful proof that our lives are not valued by the system”.
A member of their campaign group, Temi Mwale, said: “The fight for accountability, for justice, and for racial equality has spanned decades.
Distressed: members of Kaba’s family and campaign group deliver their statements outside court last night
“We honour all those who have contributed to that fight. Those that came before us, whose shoulders we stand on today.
“We are reminded that there is nothing for us in this criminal, legal system.
“There was very little faith we could invest in this court because it has never, ever produced a successful murder conviction of any on-duty police officer.
“The only thing that the police deliver to our communities is pain.”
“Who wants to live in a society where the police can shoot unarmed people in the forehead and be faced with no consequences?
“No justice. No peace.”
A statement issued on behalf of Kaba’s family said: “The acquittal of Martyn Blake isn’t just a failure for our family, but for all those affected by police violence.”
At least one Croydon councillor tweeted a “No Justice, No Peace” message soon after the verdict was announced, only to delete their tweet later. So the release of Kaba’s criminal convictions past to somehow justify the shooting appeared to work…
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP posted a statement after the trial verdict yesterday in which she said, “In all of this, we must remember that a young man has lost his life… We must also respect the legal process and the fact that the CPS believed there was sufficient evidence to bring a murder charge.
Respect: Bell Ribeiro-Addy
“Whilst police officers undeniably have a difficult job and work under exceptional pressures, this trial shows nobody is above the law. When anyone loses their life after contact with the police, it is vital that it is properly investigated.”
Ribeiro-Addy, since July the Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, added, “Trust and confidence in policing has long been a problem in London, particularly within the black community. We need urgent efforts to rebuild trust between police and communities.”
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said, “I respect the decision made by the jury following a full examination of a large amount of evidence – including video from the incident…
Challenging: Steve Reed, MP for Streatham (and Croydon North)
“There’s clearly still a wider lack of trust in the police, particularly within the black community, that needs to be addressed. As Mayor, I will continue to work with the government to support and hold the Metropolitan Police to account to ensure any lessons are learnt and the Met commands the trust of all Londoners as we build a safer London for everyone.”
It wasn’t until some hours later that Steve Reed, now the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North), got round to issuing any message on social media. He opted to retweet a statement from Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, in which she wrote of “British tradition” and “mutual bonds of trust”.
Reed’s brief tweet stated: “My heart goes out to the family, friends, and members of the wider community here in Streatham and beyond affected by today’s verdict.
“The police do a difficult job in very challenging circumstances and it’s important we respect the jury’s decision,” Reed wrote. “I will continue to work with the community to rebuild trust between the public and the police.”
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Also, the mental element (mens rea) of murder is intention to kill OR CAUSE SERIOUS HARM. I think the legal question here was whether it was necessary to use the force used, i.e. that it was reasonable in the circumstances. If you fire a gun at a man’s head, the jury will have no room for doubt that you intended at least serious harm.
Community relations aside, the Met were, are, worried that the officer would be targeted by Kaba’s gangland associates. He may need protection for years.
So Chris Kaba wasn’t the most law abiding citizen in the country. That doesn’t mean he should be shot.
We have seen this in numerous cases where the police have killed someone and then the press is flooded with stories about how bad that person was. As if the character or history of the victim justifies them being killed.
We have clear laws in this country that say that we do not execute people. Murder committed by the state is no more justifiable than murder committed by anyone else. Chris’s criminal history isn’t relevant, he should not have been killed.
Since 1990 there have been nearly 2000 deaths in police custody or otherwise following contact with the police in England & Wales – but in that whole period I could find only one police officer successfully prosecuted for manslaughter, and none for murder in relation to these deaths.
There is clearly a problem in our justice system, and there is clearly a racial bias involved as well. But instead of looking at the problems and working to solve them, we get victim blaming.
We owe it to Chis, his family, and everyone else connected to people who have died following contact with the police to demand change. We don’t accept victim blaming. We don’t think this court case should be the end of the investigation. We don’t just move on. We don’t want to be saying the same things over and over again the next time someone is killed by a police officer.
Disgraceful article