Officer denies intentionally aiming for Kaba's head
· BBC NewsAdina Campbell
UK Correspondent, BBC News
PA Media
News agency
The police officer who shot Chris Kaba has told a jury he did not intend to aim for his head and kill him.
Martyn Blake, 40, told the Old Bailey that he was aiming at the central body mass of Mr Kaba, who was driving an Audi Q8 at the time, and intended only to stop the car. He denies the murder charge against him.
The 24-year-old was shot in the head in Streatham, south-east London on 5 September 2022, dying in hospital shortly after midnight the following day.
Jurors have already been told that Mr Kaba was hemmed in by police cars in Kirkstall Gardens and drove the Audi forwards and backwards in an attempt to escape.
Members of Mr Kaba's family were in court as the trial continued.
During cross-examination, lead prosecutor Tom Little KC told the defendant: "Your intention must have been to have killed the occupant of the vehicle."
Mr Blake replied: "No I didn’t. I didn't aim specifically at the head, my intention was to stop the vehicle from moving.
"I aimed my firearm at the central body mass as we are trained to do, over the steering wheel.
"Obviously I was aware that the bullet would hit his body at some point but I didn't intend to kill."
He added: "I felt at that moment he was about to kill my colleagues and felt that was the only choice I had.
"The whole purpose of firing the bullet was to protect my colleagues."
But Tom Little KC told the court he did not accept that and argued the car Mr Kaba was in was not a threat: "The reality was that the vehicle was not being driven at you or at great speed."
Mr Little said the "supersonic" bullet, that travels at 800 metres per second, hit Mr Kaba in the head.
He said: "I suggest to you that's where you were aiming."
Mr Blake replied: "No."
Mr Little said: "Discharge of a firearm towards the central body mass of an individual is almost inevitably going to kill them."
The marksman replied: "It does depend... it's a possibility, I accepted that at the time, but I felt that the threat to my colleagues was such that I had to take that action at the time."
Mr Kaba was soon to be a father and died from a single gunshot head wound.
Before he was killed, his car was being followed because the vehicle had been linked to a shooting in Brixton the night before.
The trial continues.