A UK police marksman was on Monday cleared of murdering a black man who was shot dead two years ago as officers tried to stop a car he was driving in south London.
Martyn Blake, 40, had been on trial for killing Chris Kaba, 24, in the Streatham area of the British capital in September 2022. He died of a single gunshot to the head.
The police officer was briefly overcome by emotion as the jury returned a not guilty verdict after about three hours’ deliberation at the Old Bailey court in central London.
Kaba’s family meanwhile sat in stony silence and gave no immediate reaction but said later they were “devastated” and promised to fight on for “justice”.
His death prompted protests from his family and friends, who were supported by Inquest, which campaigns on state-related deaths, including at the hands of police.
“We know that Chris’ death is not an isolated case but part of systemic racism and stereotyping that equates black men with dangerousness,” said Inquest director Deborah Coles.
“For decades, black men have disproportionately been killed by the police.”
The decision to charge Blake saw dozens of his firearms colleagues in the Metropolitan Police stop work in protest and the army put on standby to replace them.
Officers would be put off volunteering for firearms training if they feared being embroiled in lengthy court cases when a fatal shooting took place, they argued.
Reacting to the verdict, Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said Blake had paid “a huge personal and professional sacrifice” 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”.
No officer was above the law, he said, but the system for holding police to account was “broken”.
“I worry about the lack of support officers face for doing their best, but most of all, I worry for the public,” he said.
“The more we crush the spirit of good officers, the less they can fight crime that risks London becoming less safe,” he added.
Prosecutors had argued that the shooting was “not reasonably justified or justifiable”.
Police in England, Scotland and Wales are not routinely armed and only a small proportion are authorised to carry guns.
In the year to March 2023, official figures showed that there were 18,395 police firearms operations and police weapons were deliberately fired in 10 of these incidents, with three fatalities.
Blake shot Kaba through the front windscreen of an Audi Q8 car, which had been used as a getaway vehicle in a shooting the previous evening.
It had been blocked by other police vehicles when it was identified and the court was told that Kaba tried to ram his way free.
Blake told jurors he opened fire to stop the car, as he feared one of his colleagues could be killed.
AFP
