Chris Kaba’s violent gang history is revealed

Chris Kaba was part of one of London’s most dangerous gangs and would have been on trial for murdering a rival in a nightclub shooting had he not been killed himself by a police sniper days later, it can now be reported .

Neither the 24-year-old rapper’s gang history nor criminal record was revealed in the trial of firearms officer Sergeant Martyn Blake, after a senior judge ruled it had no bearing on the issues jurors had to decide.

Allegations that Mr Kaba was directly linked to two shootings in the six days before his death can now be reported after Judge Goss lifted the bar on reporting them.

The senior judge rejected a bid by Kaba’s mother Helen Lumuanganu to keep her son’s gang activities secret until after an inquest, which could have taken years.

But after 40-year-old Blake was found not guilty of the murder on Monday, Justice Goss ruled that details from two high-profile Old Bailey trials could finally be broadcast publicly.

It can be revealed the Audi Q8 the father-of-one was driving when he was shot has been linked to three previous gun incidents in 2022.

CCTV footage is said to have captured the moment Mr Kaba opened fire on a rival in a nightclub on August 30 and Mr Blake’s defense said there was “strong evidence” he was also involved in a shooting in Brixton the night before his death.

The first shotgun incident the Audi was linked to occurred on May 22, 2022 in Bromley, South London.

It was the same type of gun used in a shooting on September 4 and was still open when Mr Kaba was killed, the court heard in the absence of the jury.

Early on August 30, 2022, Mr Kaba targeted a rival of his ’67 gang’ at the Oval Space club in Hackney, north London, an earlier Old Bailey trial heard.

He and 67 other employees had been at a party at the nightclub when he spotted 25-year-old Brandon Malutshi, who was associated with the rival ’17 gang’.

It was said that Mr Kaba “went crazy” before pulling out a gun and shooting Mr Malutshi, causing panic on the dance floor.

Wearing a gray tracksuit, he chased the victim into the street, brandishing the gun and shooting as Mr Malutshi tried to flee, it was claimed.

A number of shots were fired before Mr Malutshi collapsed after suffering gunshot wounds to both legs.

He was taken to hospital where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Mr Kaba was identified from CCTV footage of the shooting taken from inside and outside the club.

The weapon, which was not recovered, had been smuggled into the club by Marcus Pottinger, who had previously worked there and was able to bypass security checks.

Mr Kaba had traveled to Hackney in the Audi but fled in a Range Rover.

The Audi was driven away by Shemiah Bell, who parked it outside his house for Mr Kaba to collect in the morning.

Following an earlier trial at the Old Bailey, Pottinger, 31, and Bell, 32, were found guilty of wounding with intent.

The pair, along with 29-year-old Connel Bamgboye, were found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

In April, Judge Simon Mayo KC jailed Bell for 10 years, Pottinger for nine years and Bamgboye for five years and six months.

Even though Mr. Kaba was named as a co-conspirator in the indictment and at trial, his identity could not be revealed until the end of Mr. Blake’s trial.

Lawyer Patrick Gibbs KC has appealed – without success – for the jury in Blake’s murder trial to be informed of Mr Kaba’s history of violence.

But jurors only heard about the third shooting incident involving the Audi at a primary school in Brixton the night before Blake shot Kaba during a forced stop and extraction in Streatham.

Three hooded figures targeted two unidentified victims and a shotgun was fired before they fled in the Audi and another vehicle.

No suspects, shotguns or victims had been found when the Audi was spotted and followed by armed police in south London on September 5.

Mr Gibbs suggested Mr Kaba could have been one of the hooded attackers in the Brixton shooting.

After the unarmed Mr Kaba was shot dead, a balaclava was found in his pocket and gunshot residue on his sleeve.

He said: “The Crown says there is no evidence Kaba was one of the shooters on September 4.

“I think there is strong evidence to suggest that he was, apart from his connection with the Audi on August 30 and on the evening in question on September 5.”

Pointing to suspicious phone records around the time of the Brixton shooting, he said: “It’s inconclusive but it’s not nothing in my submission.”

Knowing what Mr Kaba had done days earlier explained why he was so determined to get away “at any cost, regardless of the danger to any other person”, Mr Gibbs said.

He said: “If anyone asks: what did Mr Kaba know he had done? How did Mr. Kaba know that the police would be after him, because by the time the cars blocked him on September 5 and were about to stop him, that must have been a real insight into why he did what he did.

He added: “Had he been alive, he would have been tried for attempted murder in this court for many days and weeks.”

Mr Gibbs also said that a few days later, on September 14, cleaners found a gun in rubbish bins at a property shortly before the police checkpoint.

However, it was questioned whether it could have been thrown out the window as Mr Kaba turned away from the South Circular.

During legal wrangling, it emerged that Mr Kaba and Bamgboye had been convicted in 2015 for their part in a nine-man fight.

In August 2020, Mr Kaba was given a five-month prison sentence for possessing a knife and failing to stop.

He previously served a four-year prison sentence for possession of an imitation firearm, for which he was convicted in December 2017.

An application for a gang injunction against Mr Kaba was also pending at the time of his death, the court was told.