Police Officer who Shot Chris Kaba Given Bail Ahead of Trial Next Year

Undated family handout photo issued by charity INQUEST of rapper Chris Kaba who was shot by armed officers from the Metropolitan Police at Kirkstall Gardens, Streatham Hill, south London, on Sept. 5, 2022. (INQUEST via PA Media)

LONDON—A police firearms officer charged with the murder of Chris Kaba has been released on conditional bail ahead of his trial, which has been provisionally set for September 2024.

The Metropolitan Police officer, named only as NX121, appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey in central London on Thursday.

Earlier he had appeared in the dock at Westminster magistrates’ court on Thursday, as several of Mr. Kaba’s relations watched from the public gallery.

At the Old Bailey hearing it was acknowledged that NX121 was the police officer who had fired the fatal shot into Mr. Kaba as his Audi car came to a stop in Streatham Hill, south east London, on Sep. 6, 2022.

NX121 was not given the opportunity to offer a plea but it is understood he denies murder.

The prosecutor Tom Little, KC, said the investigation was "well-advanced" and the decision to charge NX121 had come more than a year after the shooting incident.

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NX121, who was represented by barrister Patrick Hill, was asked to confirm his identity in court and was then asked his date of birth.

Date of Birth not Publicly Disclosed

Mr. Hill intervened on his client's behalf and the judge, the recorder of London, Mark Lucraft, KC, agreed that he could write his date of birth on a piece of paper and hand it to the court clerk.

Judge Lucraft then ran through the legal timetable and set a provisional trial date of Sep. 9, 2024.

Mr. Hill then formally made a bail application and Judge Lucraft granted NX121 bail on the condition that he resided at a particular address, surrendered his passport and did not apply for any new travel documents.

The case was then adjourned until a case management hearing in December.

NX121's real name remains a secret as an application for anonymity was granted in the magistrate's court.

Judge Lucraft will hold a special hearing on Sep. 29 to discuss a media request to lift that anonymity order.

Mr. Kaba, who was also known as Itch or Mad Itch, had been a rapper with a drill group called 67, which has been involved in a long-running feud in south London.

A forensics officer takes photographs of the scene where 24-year-old Chris Kaba was killed by police in Kirkstall Gardens, Streatham Hill, south London, on Sept. 5, 2022. (PA)

Six men are due to go on trial in November accused of conspiring along with Mr. Kaba to murder a man called Brendon Malutshi, who survived the shooting on Aug. 30, 2022.

The Chris Kaba shooting was the most controversial firearms incident in London since August 2011 when Mark Duggan, a member of the Tottenham Man Dem, was shot dead, triggering riots across the capital.

In the case of Mr. Duggan, the police officer who shot him, identified only as V53, was never charged and an inquest jury returned a verdict of lawful killing.