Chris Kaba, who was elevated to George Floyd-esque martyrdom status in Britain after being killed during an altercation with police in 2022, has now been revealed to have been a serial violent criminal offender and a member of one of London’s most feared gangs, which put out a hit on a police officer following Kaba’s death.
In September 2022, Kaba was stopped by police over suspicion that his car was tied to a firearms offence the previous day. Rather than complying with the officers, Kaba refused to leave his vehicle and ultimately used his car as a “battering ram” against multiple officers. Seargant Martyn Blake then fired one shot through the windshield, killing Kaba.
The killing sparked street protests from Black Lives Matter and other leftist activists, who claimed that the incident demonstrated the supposed racism within London’s Metropolitan Police. Amid the public backlash, Sergeant Blake was put on trial for murder. However, this week, he was cleared of wrongdoing.
Following his acquittal and the lifting of reporting restrictions, it was revealed that Blake was forced into hiding after a £10,000 bounty was put on his head by members of the ’67 Gang’ to which Kaba belonged.
According to a report from the Daily Mail, Kaba was high on cocaine during the police altercation that led to his death and still had gun powder residue on his clothes, leading authorities to believe that he had committed a shooting in Brixton the night before his death.
Meanwhile, the drill rapper gangester was also filmed six days before his death shooting a rival gang member in a Hackney nightclub, for which he would have faced attempted murder charges. Kaba was previously imprisoned over an involvement in a 2017 shooting, although he was released early after just a year behind bars, and in 2020 for failing to stop for police and possession of a knife.
Despite his violent past, jurors in the murder trial against Seargant Blake were not made aware of his criminal history and were only told that he had a child on the way at the time of his death. However, despite the efforts to conceal his history from the jury, it emerged that he had been banned from contacting the mother of his child after she was granted a protection order against him over domestic violence.
The decision to conceal his past from the jury was criticised as it would have explained why Kaba was so desperate to flee the police stop, however, the judge in the case, Justice Goss, said that it should not matter as Blake was unaware that it was Kaba behind the wheel when he shot and killed him.
“Mr Kaba is not on trial here,” the judge said.
According to Sky News, Kaba’s mother had applied to have the reporting restrictions on her son’s criminality be extended beyond the trial, but a judge shot down the request.
There have also been criticisms of the move to release Seargant Blake’s name to the public during the murder trial, given that fellow members of Kaba’s gang were able to use the information to put out a bounty on the officer’s head.
Blake’s attorney, Patrick Gibbs, KC, told the court that an intelligence report found: “The sum of money on offer was £10,000….in exchange for personal details of Martyn Blake including addresses and vehicle registration marks… The threat of harm was directed at both Mr Blake and his family.”
Due to the sustained threat to his life, the officer has been forced to leave his home and go into hiding with protection officers.
The head of Counter Terrorism in the Met Superintendent Ross McKibbin said: “In nearly 30 years of service, I have never been more concerned about the welfare of an officer or the likelihood of them or their family coming to serious harm as I am about Martyn Blake in this case.”
The official Black Lives Matter UK account on X condemned the aquital of Black in the murder trial and called for protests outside the Old Bailey on Monday. At the time of this reporting, the account has yet to comment on the revelations about Kaba’s criminal past.
Following his death, Kaba’s story became a staple of BLM associated rallies and his face adorned placards in a similar manner to George Floyd. During a protest attended by former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn held in tandem with the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, an activist was filmed by Breitbart London declaring: “We are grieving for our loved ones, our kings, our Queens, let’s not forget that.”
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