The officer was “filled with fear” before Kaba’s shooting

A Metropolitan Police firearms officer accused of murdering Chris Kaba has told a court he was “full of fear” and thought one of his colleagues might have died.

Martyn Blake shot the unarmed 24-year-old in the head during a police vehicle stop in Streatham, south London, in September 2022.

The officer denies intending to kill Mr Kaba and the charge of murder against him.

Giving evidence at his trial, Blake told the jury at the Old Bailey that he felt he had a “duty to protect” his colleagues on the night of the hold-up.

Mr Kaba’s family were in the courtroom to hear evidence of the police shooter.

Asked why he pulled the trigger by defense barrister Patrick Gibbs KC, Mr Blake, 41, said: “I had a genuine belief that there was an imminent threat to life – I thought a or more of my colleagues were about to die.

“I thought I was the only person with effective firearms coverage 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 that moment.”

When asked if it was his intention to kill Mr Kaba, the accused replied: “No”.

He acknowledged that a shot to the core body mass at that range could be fatal.

The court heard that Blake joined the Metropolitan Police in 2008 and applied to be a firearms officer in 2015.

“I found it a challenging role with a challenging course. It was a very good course and a very good job. The best job in the Metropolitan Police, working with the best colleagues,” he said.

Jurors previously heard that Kaba was shot in the forehead at 10.07pm while sitting in the driver’s seat of an Audi car which had been linked to a gun incident in Brixton the previous night.

Moments earlier, he had tried to get away by driving forward and then reversing into a police car that had blocked him.

The jury was told police had been following Mr Kaba because the Audi car he was driving had been linked to a shooting in Brixton the night before.

The prosecution claims it was neither necessary nor reasonably justified for Blake to fire the shot that killed Kaba.

The trial continues.

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Learn more about the Chris Kaba trial

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