Days before he was slain by a police shooter, the father was seen on CCTV shooting a rival in the leg on a crowded dance floor.
A victim was shot by police. It can now be reported that Chris Kaba was a “core member” of one of the most deadly gangs in London and that, had he not been slain, he would have been charged with attempted murder over a nightclub shooting.
Martyn Blake, a shooter for the Metropolitan Police, was cleared yesterday of killing the 24-year-old driver who attempted to force his way out of a police check in Streatham, south-east London, on September 5, 2022.
It has recently come to light that just six days prior, Mr. Kaba had attacked a man in connection with a gang dispute, shooting him twice in the legs.
A jury was shown shocking CCTV footage of the father shooting competitor Brandon Malutshi in the leg on August 30 on a crowded dance floor at the Oval Space nightclub in Hackney.
Outside the venue, he tracked the victim and shot a wounded Malutshi, wounding him again in the other leg. Malutshi received treatment for his gunshot wounds after being airlifted to the hospital, but he eventually left.
In a trial at the Old Bailey earlier this year, Mr. Kaba’s companions Marcus Pottinger and Shemiah Bell, both 31, were convicted of wounding with intent due to their involvement in the nightclub shooting.
Connel Bamgboye, 29, and the other two defendants were also convicted of possessing a handgun with the intent to incite fear of violence. Three other defendants were exonerated of all charges.
Trial coverage, Mr. Kaba’s involvement in the shooting, and his connections to the Lambeth ’67’ gang were delayed until after Mr. Blake’s (also known as officer NX121) murder trial was over.
Since the firearms officer did not know who was driving the car when he took the fatal shot, the judge decided that the specifics of Mr Blake’s prior convictions should not be revealed to the jury, despite the fact that his attorneys had requested that they be included as “bad character” evidence during that trial.
After the Audi Q8’s registration plate was connected to another shotgun incident in Brixton the previous evening, the police marksman and his colleagues began chasing the vehicle and conducted a “enforced stop and extraction.”
During the last moments of Mr. Blake’s trial, Mr. Kaba’s family requested that the prohibition on disclosing his criminal past be prolonged until the conclusion of an inquest into his death.
But this was
denied by Mr. Justice Goss, who on Tuesday removed the Old Bailey’s reporting limitations.
According to current reports, Mr. Kaba had served time in prison before and was scheduled to appear at a hearing for a gang injunction ten days following his murder.
In 2015, the 24-year-old was convicted for the third time for affray and possession of an offensive weapon at the age of 17. He was previously convicted at the age of 13.
Additional convictions, which were revealed during a preliminary hearing without a jury present, include possession of a knife in 2020 and an imitation handgun in 2017.
Lawyers contended that the officer’s identity should be kept secret and that he should be tried using the cypher NX121 since the police were so terrified of retaliatory attacks by the “67” gang after Mr. Blake shot Kaba.
The media successfully contested the officer’s request for anonymity, and Martyn Blake was eventually identified as the person in question.
Due to his involvement in the Hackney nightclub shooting, Bell received a 10-year prison sentence, Pottinger received a 9-year sentence, and Bamgboye received a 5.5-year sentence.
