Chris Kaba's cousin Jefferson Bosela reads a statement outside Inner South London Coroner's Court, alongside Chris's uncle Kiyika Nkama Nkamu (left), father Prosper Kaba (second left) and mother Helen Lumuanganu after the inquest into his death. Picture date: Tuesday October 4, 2022.
THE family of a young black man who was fatally shot by a Metropolitan Police officer called today for a decision on charges as they still wait for answers a year on.
Chris Kaba was killed in Streatham Hill, London, on September 5 2022 by a single gunshot while he was in his car.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has had the file of evidence since March when policing watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced it had concluded its homicide investigation.
Campaigners will hold a peaceful protest to demand justice for the 24-year-old outside New Scotland Yard from 12 pm on Saturday September 9.
In a statement, the family said: “Throughout the last year there has been a lack of urgency.
“Our family, alongside the community who have supported us over the past year, have been consistent in our call for accountability.
“We believe that it was possible within six months of Chris being killed both for the IOPC to complete a well-resourced and effective criminal investigation and for the CPS to provide us with a charging decision.
“It is almost unbelievable that a year on we still wait for answers. It is agonising not knowing the CPS decision.”
The statement called it unacceptable to have been failed by the CPS, saying: “We very much hope that the CPS decide in days (not weeks or months) from now in favour of a prosecution and that the truth will emerge, without further delay, through criminal proceedings.
“Our family and community cannot continue waiting for answers.”
An investigation by Inquest, which supports bereaved families, found that there have been more than 1,800 deaths in or following police custody in England and Wales since 1990.
During that time, there has only been one successful prosecution of a police officer for manslaughter in 2021, and none for murder.
Inquest director Deborah Coles said: “It is simply unacceptable we do not yet have a charging decision.
“This exacerbates the family’s trauma and grieving process.
“Delay, denial and defensiveness is institutionalised within the investigation system and shows how police officers are treated differently than civilians.”
The family’s lawyer, Daniel Machover of Hickman & Rose, said that the CPS decision-making when police officers are suspects is “too slow and cumbersome.”
He added that many of the IOPC’s most serious criminal investigations of police officers “remain under-resourced and far too slow.”
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