Chris Kaba: Family respond to police watchdog decision to refer homicide investigation to Crown Prosecution Service

30 March 2023

Chris Kaba, 24, was fatally shot by a firearms officer from the Metropolitan Police known only as NX121 on 5 September 2022 in Kirkstall Gardens, Streatham Hill, London.

The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), has today announced that it has concluded its homicide investigation and has passed the file to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider potential criminal charges.

This step from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) marks significant progress in the case. The IOPC homicide investigation considered the actions of the police, and in particular the actions of NX121.

In a joint statement, the family of Chris Kaba said: “Our family, alongside the community who have supported us over the past seven months, have been consistent in our call for accountability.

This step forward is necessary and welcome. We urge the Crown Prosecution Service to do their bit and provide their advice to the IOPC urgently.

We very much hope that the CPS advise in favour of a prosecution and that the truth will emerge, without delay, through criminal proceedings. Our family and community cannot continue waiting for answers.

Chris was so loved by our family and all his friends. He had a bright future ahead of him before his life was cut short. We must see justice for Chris.”

Deborah Coles, Director of INQUEST, said: “The deaths of Black men following the use of lethal force by police are at the sharp end of the racism we see institutionalised in police culture and practice.

Chris Kaba’s death has rightly generated significant public disquiet at a national and international level about how the state and its agents are held to account for killing its citizens.

The rule of law must apply equally to all citizens including those in uniform. The Crown Prosecution Service must ensure effective and prompt decision making.”

Daniel Machover of Hickman & Rose, who represent the family, said: “It is very welcome that, having concluded the homicide investigation earlier this month, the IOPC have now taken this important step, but it remains the case that with different policies in place and a greater degree of urgency right from the start the file would have been with the CPS much sooner.

It is worth pointing out that many of the IOPC’s most serious criminal investigations remain under-resourced and far too slow. The public interest demands that the CPS provides its advice to the IOPC swiftly, in a matter of weeks not months.”

ENDS 

NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information contact Lucy McKay on [email protected] or 020 7263 1111.

The family will not be doing broadcast interviews today.

Chris’s family are represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Daniel Machover and Ellie Cornish of Hickman & Rose solicitors, and Matthew Ryder and Ifeanyi Odogwu of Matrix Chambers. The caseworker is Head of Casework, Anita Sharma. 

An INQUEST report published last month found that families of Black people who have died following police contact in recent years were unable to get accountability for racism from a system that is not “fit for purpose”.

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