Chris Kaba was ‘core member’ of gang and ‘gunman in nightclub shooting’ days before he was killed by police
Chris Kaba was a core member of a notorious south London gang and accused of being the gunman in an alleged bid to murder a rival in a nightclub shooting days before he was killed.
The 24-year-old’s gang links, previous convictions and violent past can be reported for the first time after Metropolitan Police marksman Martyn Blake was cleared of murder and the judge Mr Justice Goss lifted reporting restrictions.
Brandon Malutshi was shot twice in the leg with a revolver as Kaba, 24, opened fire on the dancefloor of The Oval Space, in Hackney, east London, and on the road outside as the victim tried to escape in the early hours of 30 August 2022.
Kaba, known by his street name “Itch”, had arrived at the scene in the same Audi Q8 he was driving on the night of 5 September 2022, when he was shot in the head by Mr Blake, 40, as he tried to escape from police in Streatham, south London.
CCTV shows Kaba entering the nightclub – shown under a blue arrow.
Kaba seen with Shemiah Bell (yellow arrow) and Connell Bamgboye (green arrow)
The same vehicle was linked to a shooting in Bromley, southeast London, on 22 May 2022, in which two people were targeted with a shotgun, the Old Bailey heard in legal argument not in front of the jury in Mr Blake’s murder trial.
The Audi was also used as one of two getaway vehicles the night before Kaba was killed after three masked men fired a shotgun twice at unknown targets outside a Brixton school, jurors were told.
But they didn’t know Kaba was found with a balaclava in his pocket and gunshot residue on his sleeve when he was shot, although prosecutors suggested it may have come from one of the firearms officers.
The dark Audi Q8 driven by Kaba. Pic: IOPC
No weapons were found in the Audi, which was not registered to Kaba, although he was one of the known drivers.
A handgun was discovered on 14 September 2022 by cleaners behind the bins of a property along the route he took before he was killed, but the weapon is not thought to be linked to the incident.
Kaba was due to face a civil court hearing 10 days after his death, where police would make an application for a gang injunction, used to place restrictions on people involved in gang violence.
He had previously been the subject of an interim version of the order, but it had elapsed while he was in prison for other convictions.
The 67 gang
Mr Blake’s barrister Patrick Gibbs KC had argued “bad character” evidence relating to Kaba should be put before the jury in the murder case.
But the application was refused by the judge because it wasn’t deemed relevant to the issues in the case as the officer didn’t know Kaba was driving the car, only that it had been linked to a shooting the night before.
The judge rejected an application made on behalf of Kaba’s mother to extend reporting restrictions beyond the end of the trial.
Mr Gibbs described Kaba as the “principal gunman” of the Brixton Hill-based 67 gang, which has more than 50 known members.
A police report submitted to the court as part of an unsuccessful bid to keep the anonymity of the officer, previously known as NX121, described the group as an “identifiable street gang”.
The gang is in an “active and violent dispute with a rival faction of street gangs”, including “numerous firearms discharges, stabbings and murders” which has played out in gang-related music since 2014, it said.
Kaba had appeared in drill rap videos with other 67 members online.
Kaba was described as a ‘core member’ of a London gang
Its members are “embedded in a culture of drug supply, serious violence, firearms and knife possession” and are part of the “highest harm street gang in Lambeth”, according to the report.
Mr Gibbs said there was specific intelligence to indicate there was a risk to Blake’s life because the gang might seek to identify and murder him as revenge for the fatal shooting of Kaba.
Previous convictions
Kaba has convictions dating back to when he was aged 13 for offences including stabbing with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, a knife-enabled gang assault when the victim was stabbed and had his arm broken, and two other knife offences.
In 2015, when he was 17, Kaba was convicted of affray and possession of an offensive weapon – a belt – over an incident in which a revolver-style handgun was recovered nearby, but the weapon wasn’t linked to him and he was never charged in connection with it.
He was jailed for four years after being convicted of possessing an imitation firearm in 2017 and in August 2020 was handed a five-month prison sentence for failing to stop and possession of a knife, which was discarded from a vehicle.
Attempted murder trial
Had he not been killed, Kaba would’ve stood trial for the attempted murder of Malutshi, who was affiliated with the Wandsworth Road-based 1-7 gang, along with six other men.
His name was on the indictment at the Old Bailey trial earlier this year, where it was an agreed fact that Kaba was a “core member” of the 67 gang, but his role in the attack after Notting Hill Carnival couldn’t be reported until the end of Mr Blake’s trial.
A witness said Kaba, who was wearing a balaclava, was “moving mad” as he identified his “ops” before pulling a gun out of a bag smuggled into the club by Marcus Pottinger.
Marcus Pottinger (left) and Connel Bamgboye. Pic:PA
Shemiah Bell. Pic: PA
Malutshi was shot on the busy dance floor, then again as Kaba chased him as he fled into a side street, suffering wounds to his left and right thighs.
Kaba left the scene in the back of a Range Rover, while Shemiah Bell, known as “Bones” because of his dog bone necklace, drove the Audi away for Kaba to collect later.
Bell was jailed for 10 years and Pottinger for nine years after they were found guilty of wounding with intent to cause GBH and possession of a firearm to cause fear of violence.
Sentencing the men, Judge Simon Mayo KC said: “Having spotted Malutshi in the nightclub, I am sure that Kaba decided he would confront him and shoot him.”
Connell Bamgboye, nicknamed “C-Rose” or “Conz”, whose passport was found in the Audi on the night Kaba was shot, was sentenced to five and half years in prison after he was convicted of the firearms offence.
Bamgboye, who was also stopped in the Audi by armed police in the first half of 2022, was convicted with Kaba in 2015 over a nine-man fight, and they were both later involved in a gang altercation at an unlicensed music event in Romford, the court heard.
Kaba was stabbed in the stomach, while Bamgboye and another person were injured in a shooting when a row erupted.
‘He should never have stood trial’
Before the jury delivered its unanimous not guilty verdict after around four hours of deliberation on Monday, they passed a note to the judge asking for permission also to pass comment, which was denied.
But Mr Justice Goss refused an application from the media, supported by a lawyer for Kaba’s family, to make the note public.
Matt Cane, the general secretary of the Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said Mr Blake “should never have stood trial” and his fellow officers “remain astonished that a brave colleague could be charged with murder”.
“The ramifications of this case remain widespread; police officers should not have their livelihoods, and their liberty, put at risk for performing what unequivocally, in this case, was his lawful and appropriate function,” he said.
“It remains a matter of grave concern, that investigations into the most serious complex and dynamic operational scenarios, such as this, are carried out by those who seemingly have little, or no, experience of policing, no understanding of this type of fast-moving and dangerous operational trained tactic, involving split-second decision making in the most difficult and challenging circumstances.
“The flaws which arise in such investigations, are then compounded by poor decision making by the Crown Prosecution Service, and others.”
UK
Three Iranians charged under National Security Act after investigation by UK counter-terror police
Two firefighters and a member of the public have died in a large fire in Bicester, the fire service announced.
The firefighters died in the inferno at a former RAF base in Oxfordshire, which now hosts historic motoring and aviation centre Bicester Motion.
The local fire service was called to the scene at 6.39pm last night.
Chief Fire Officer Rob MacDougall said: “It is with a very heavy heart that we today report the loss of two of our firefighters. Families have been informed and are being supported.
“Our thoughts are with them at this most difficult of times and we ask for privacy to be respected.
“We cannot release any details at present but will provide further information as soon as we can.”
Two other firefighters sustained serious injuries and are currently being treated in hospital, Oxfordshire County Council said in a statement.
Footage shared on social media shows plumes of smoke billowing into the sky and flames swallowing the large building.
Clouds of smoke from the fire were billowing into the sky last night. Pic:@kajer87X
Two firefighters and one other person died in the fire, while two more firefighters were seriously injured. Pic: PA
Ten fire crews attended the incident, with four remaining at the scene. The fire is still ongoing, but it is considered under control.
Local residents were advised to remain indoors and keep their windows shut, but this advice has now been lifted.
Bicester Motion said in a statement it would be closed today and over the weekend.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
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UK
‘Toxic’ army unit charged with investigating sex crimes allowing abusers to ‘get away with it’ in own ranks, whistleblower says
More than a dozen women came forward to report a staff sergeant in the Royal Military Police (RMP) for sexual abuse, but he was allowed to resign from the army instead of face charges.
Warning: This article contains material some readers may find distressing
That’s the claim of a whistleblower who served as a sergeant in the RMP for over a decade and says she was one of the man’s victims.
Amy, not her real name, says a “toxic” culture in the military police means sexual predators in the army are “getting away with stuff that they shouldn’t be getting away with”.
It’s a rare insight into life inside the Royal Military Police, the corps charged with investigating crime in the army.
Amy described how the man who assaulted her would go into women’s rooms and sit on their beds. She says he used to force her to go out driving with him at night and talk about sex.
“He preyed on the young, new females that were in the unit,” she says.
“One day, I was out with my friends in town and he was on patrol… There were two of us that went over to speak to him and I had quite a low-cut top on.
“So he hooked his finger around my top and pulled my boob out”.
She recalls as she tried to stop him, “he grabbed my hand and put it on his penis”.
She claims there are other men in the RMP who’ve been accused of sexual offences, recalling hearing of five separate allegations of rape against male colleagues by female colleagues.
“If all of this sexual assault and bullying and rapes are going on within the military police, how can they then go out and investigate the wider army for doing the same things?” she says.
“It doesn’t work.”
Amy, a former RMP officer who alleges sexual abuse in the armed forces
‘He got away with it’
Looking back on her career in the army is difficult for Amy.
After leaving, she tried to settle back into life as a civilian with a new job and a young family to look after, but says she worried about bumping into former colleagues in the street.
“It’s taken me a long time to heal,” she says.
“I was very bitter towards my military career when I left, but I’ve had to sort of learn, build myself up again and remember the good times because they were really good times as well… I think it was just so bad at points.”
When she joined the RMP, she believed she would be part of a unit “representing how the rest of the soldiers should be conducting themselves”.
The reality, she says, was that she had become part of “one of the most toxic” corps in the army.
She recalls being told that the staff sergeant she had reported for sexual assault would be allowed to resign.
“They basically told me he’s not going to be charged, but will be leaving the military… doing him a favour,” she says.
“He got away with it all,” she adds. “He’s not going to lose his pension and whatever else he would have lost with a dishonourable discharge.
“He’s left without a criminal record… that’s not safe for civilians as well, because it’s not even on his record.”
‘They investigate themselves’
Earlier this year, an inquest into the suicide of 19-year-old Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck found she had been failed by the army after reporting sexual assault and harassment.
Since then, Sky News has reported claims of widespread abuse and growing calls for investigations into sexual offences to be removed from the RMP and instead carried out by civilian police.
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From March: Army women reveal alleged abuse
The Labour chair of the influential House of Commons Defence Committee is now urging the government to act.
Tan Dhesi told Sky News: “The system needs to change… incidents of sexual violence and sexual assault should be dealt with not by the Royal Military Police but by civilian police and civilian courts.
“I hope that the government will be making that substantial change in the very, very near future; in fact, they should do it ASAP.”
Tan Dhesi MP told Sky News that ‘the system needs to change… ASAP’
Since Gunner Beck’s death, a new tri-service complaints team has been announced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The change will see bullying, harassment, discrimination related service complaints dealt with by a team outside the commands of the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.
However, Amy believes investigations need to be done “completely separately from the military”.
“Otherwise it doesn’t work because friends will be investigating friends,” she says.
“I think there’s such a male-dominated space in the military still. Women have no chance… and it’s not fair because people are getting away with stuff that they shouldn’t be getting away with and allowed to continue doing it and ruining lives.”
She believes the entire system lacks accountability. “They investigate themselves,” she says, even down to how the RMP is regulated.
“The people that run that unit are RMP. They get posted in, do a few years and then get posted back out.”
‘I was told off for reporting it’
Katie, also not her real name, served in the army for over 20 years. She saw active service in Afghanistan and rose to the rank of Captain.
It was a distinguished career that was brought to a premature end by sexual abuse and whistleblowing.
Having taken the difficult decision to leave the army she now leads a secluded life and suffers poor mental health.
Katie (centre), who resigned from the armed forces after alleged sexual abuse, as a serving RMP officer
“I still struggle,” she says. “I’m still very wary of men. My relationship is strained.
“Everything seems like black and white now, like I live my life in black and white rather than full colour… As a person, it has changed my life forever.”
To begin with, she was in the same unit that Gunner Beck would join years later. She too experienced harassment and abuse, and says her line manager “laughed” when she reported it.
“I just felt like dehumanised, I felt like property, I didn’t feel like a person anymore,” she says.
“And so I would avoid people… I would hide in the garages, behind the tanks, in between the guns, just praying that these people hadn’t seen me and I might be able to escape them for that day.”
She moved to a different unit but says wherever she went, abuse was rife. After being groped by a higher-ranking colleague, she assumed her chain of command would escalate her report to the RMP.
Instead, she says she was “put in front of the Sergeant Major and told off”.
“I remember at the time saying I’d like to call the civilian police, and I was told that I wasn’t allowed to do that and I’d be disciplined if I tried to do that,” she said. “So I was so frightened.”
She stayed in the army, hoping to make a difference. As an officer, she began reporting abusers on behalf of younger victims.
“I kept this goal in my head of reaching a position one day where I could help other women,” she said. “When I got there, I realised that it was way more toxic than I could have ever imagined.
“The officer corps were actually the worst perpetrators of all because they brushed it under the carpet. There was a will and a need more to protect themselves or their friends. Or the reputation of the unit first and foremost.”
She believes changes made by the MoD since the death of Gunner Beck to remove the chain of command from sexual abuse investigations will make “little difference”, saying they’ll still be carried out by “the same people, but just under a new title”.
‘They should be held accountable’
An MoD spokesperson told Sky News that “unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in our Armed Forces”.
They added: “That is why this government is creating a new Tri-Service Complaints team to take the most serious complaints out of the chain of single service command for the first time, and has launched a new central taskforce on Violence Against Women and Girls to give this issue the attention it deserves.
“We are also establishing an independent Armed Forces Commissioner with the power to visit defence sites unannounced, and to investigate and report to parliament any welfare matters affecting service life.”
Amy believes the RMP is not fit for purpose.
“They have higher standards to uphold, yet they don’t uphold them within their own regiment, within their own lives, and then they’re expected to police and uphold those standards throughout the rest of the army,” she says.
“At the end of the day, they know the law and they should be held accountable for what they do.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
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