Chris Kaba Killing: British Police Officer Charged with Murdering a Young Black Man
Chris Kaba, a black man, was shot at with a straight bullet to the head in south-west London by an officer only identified as NX121 in September 2022. Mr. Kaba was being tailed by a police car without lights or sirens; he was driving an Audi at the time.
A direct bullet fired through the front windscreen of the Audi Mr. Kaba was driving went straight into his head. Mr. Kaba was not a threat; an arrest was not attempted; by all standards, this was murder by a law enforcement officer. It is important to note that the Metropolitan Police had asserted that Mr. Kaba was shot after a pursuit, but the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigating the shooting begged to differ on that pursuit claim as their in-court submission made no mention of such.
Dean Brown from the Independent Office for Police confirmed in a statement that Mr. Kaba’s Audi was suspected to be linked to a firearm incident the previous day. Drawing inferences from the proceeding thus far, it can be argued that that was not the case. A mistake may have happened here; however, the fact that it took a year to bring charges against the officer is a myth many still struggle to come to terms with.
In a twist, over 100 fellow London Metropolitan Armed Police officers, from a colleague to a murderer in uniform, have all terminated or returned their firearms in protest of the officer NX121 being charged. The audacity of these officers to defend a murderer is reason enough, as a black person, to stay away from London. It is so disgusting, I almost puked right through this article. As someone who spent most of their life in London, my ex-city has deteriorated so much, although there has been some progress since Damilola Taylor’s killing. In London, despite a minority governor and Prime Minister, a shift to the right has steadily strengthened.
For fear of an armed officer shortage, the Ministry of Defence has offered to supply military officers to fill in the gap potentially caused by the protest of firearms officers at the back of officer NX121 being charged. The cliche never dies, but the death of the cliche should not come close to the truth of the cliche; imagine Mr. Kaba was a John Smith, blue-eyed Caucasian? Do you think he would have been shot without an attempt to arrest or stop during the unsirened following of Mr. Kaba?
For those who are not familiar with the British police system, police officers are not allowed to carry firearms in the UK. There are several police forces in the UK; the UK is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The rules are different for Scotland and Northern Ireland, while England and Wales tend to align. There is a separate police unit called “armed officers”, They are trained to use firearms in all spheres, and they are not allowed on the streets except at airports, houses of parliament, and other vital infrastructure. Armed police are called in cases of firearms incidents.
In a letter to the Home Secretary, Sir Mark Rowley said firearms officers had become concerned they could face legal problems even if they stuck to the training and tactics they’ve been given. As a result, the Metropolitan Police commissioner added that armed officers are ‘extremely well trained’ and are ‘individually responsible and accountable for their actions’, before stating the force has ‘one of the safest models of armed policing in the world’.
He suggested legal changes over the way self-defence is interpreted in police misconduct cases, the introduction of a criminal standard of proof for unlawful killing in inquests and inquiries, and changes to the threshold at which the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) can launch an investigation.
From the IOPC to the Met Police and the Home Secretary, focus has shifted to instead of condemning and making sure that such a murderous adventure by an armed officer does not repeat itself, they are busy trying to change the law to further protect armed officers should a similar incident occur so such an officer can be protected. This is not very shocking to me as a former Londoner, but it will be to those who are not familiar with the reality in the UK and London in particular.
Black people should learn to stay at home in Africa. The only home you have is in your various countries. Having children in rich countries and forcing your way into their system by claiming to be nationals can lead to such condescending treatment at the hands of the indigenous population, who are not totally satisfied with the transformation of their homeland by people who do not share the same culture or look like them. As with most of my articles, I don’t condone political correctness; I say the things that most will only do behind closed doors.
If we all run away from our countries because they are poor and corrupt, running to countries whose ancestors sacrificed to stabilise, you will end up living the rest of your life as a second-class citizen. If the forefathers of these countries had not sacrificed, those countries would have equally been like the ones you are running away from. People must sacrifice for the betterment of posterity, even at the expense of their own lives. A person cannot become British, German, Polish, or Russian by virtue of spending a few years in those countries or being born there. You don’t see black Africans born in India trying to be Indians, or those born in other third-world countries; only those born in rich, developed, or rich emerging countries.
London is a city where 45% of its residents were born abroad. The disenfranchisement of the indigenes and the surge of immigration from all over the world are clearly visible in the interaction between native Brits and non-natives. Indigenous Londoners have by their drove moved away from London over the changing face of their city so much so that those who have remained tend to live in communities where people of their kind are dominant, or in the majority.
By Ikechukwu Orji
