A South London police officer was recently cleared of murdering Chris Kaba two years ago. Martyn Blake, 40, shot Mr. Kaba, an unarmed 24-year-old, during a police vehicle stop in Streatham, which the officer claimed was not intended to kill the victim. The jury’s not guilty verdict prompted Mr. Blake to take a deep breath but remain otherwise stoic.
The Old Bailey heard that Mr. Kaba was expecting to become a father and died from a single gunshot wound he received through the windscreen of an Audi Q8. Following an intense trial where the defendant and his colleagues testified, Mr. Justice Goss applauded the jury of nine men and three women for their diligence and care during the case.
Despite the verdict, Mr. Kaba’s relatives, accompanied by their police family liaison officer, left the courtroom silently. Earlier in the trial, Mr. Blake reportedly acknowledged, “If I hadn’t acted, I thought one of the colleagues would have been dead.” Jurors learned that Mr. Kaba tried to escape by driving forwards and backward repeatedly, which led Mr. Blake to believe one of his colleagues was in danger.
While the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), will decide whether Mr. Blake should face a disciplinary hearing, IOPC director Amanda Rowe centred her statement on the immense pain that Mr. Kaba’s family felt during the trial. Meanwhile, Frank Ferguson, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), stated that the decision to prosecute was after a thorough consideration of all the evidence.
This case has garnered significant public interest, and particularly among the Black communities due to the potential racial connotations. However, the CPS emphasized that it is essential to put cases before the jury, meet the prosecution’s test and allow jurors to scrutinize and determine the verdict
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