Louis De Zoysa, 25, is accused of murdering Sgt Ratana, 54, at a custody block in Croydon, south London, on September 25 2020 while he was handcuffed.
The prosecution alleges De Zoysa ‘pulled the trigger on purpose four times’ while he was handcuffed, with the first and second shots hitting Sgt Ratana, the third hitting the wall during a struggle with officers and a fourth hitting De Zoysa himself.
They say the gun and holster were ‘probably concealed under one of his armpits’.
De Zoysa, of Banstead, Surrey, denies murder. The defence told the trial yesterday that the defendant was suffering an autistic meltdown at the time of the shooting and ‘did not mean to or want to kill Sgt Ratana, or to cause him really serious harm’.
The footage released by the Met today has been cut down to eight minutes and 47 seconds and includes body-worn camera video showing De Zoysa being stopped and searched on London Road, Norbury, south London, by officers in the early hours of September 25 2020.
He is then put into the back of a police van and taken to the custody block in Windmill Road, Croydon.
It also shows the moments before Sgt Ratana, who was 54, was fatally shot just after 2am, before cutting to immediately after, with De Zoysa being wrestled to the floor and the gun kicked away.
De Zoysa, who was still handcuffed when Sgt Ratana was shot, is said by the Crown to have deliberately fired the weapon without warning into the officer’s chest.
The prosecution alleges that De Zoysa made bullets for an antique revolver which he concealed in a holster and ‘got hold of’ after he was arrested, handcuffed and put in a police van.
Prosecutor Duncan Penny KC told the court yesterday that the footage showed that De Zoysa stood up, twisted his body round to the right and brought his hands from behind his back to his right side in one movement.
He also submitted that De Zoysa knew he was using a gun which worked.
Mr Penny told the court: ‘Louis De Zoysa was holding the gun in his right hand. He fired the gun directly at the chest of Sergeant Ratana.’
A second shot, fired a second after the first shot, hit Sgt Ratana in the leg but was not the fatal wound, the court heard.
Moments after the fatal first round was fired, Mr Penny said, another police officer was continuing to pull De Zoysa backwards.
The Crown’s barrister added: ‘At the time, the gun was in Louis De Zoysa’s right hand. At the same time, Louis De Zoysa’s right hand was lifted up towards the right side of Louis De Zoysa’s head.
‘The actions of Louis De Zoysa and (the male officer struggling with him) both affected where the gun was pointing. Their actions combined to make the gun point up towards the left wall of the cell.
‘As the gun was raised, Louis De Zoysa fired the gun a third time. The shot hit the left wall of the cell.’
Mr Penny said the male officer then wrestled De Zoysa to the ground while a female officer took hold of her taser and tried to fire it twice.
In the 16 seconds after the shot hit the wall, the jury was told, De Zoysa was on the floor on his left side – with his gun underneath him.
A muffled bang was then heard, which the prosecution say was the fourth shot which caused the injuries to De Zoysa.
Mr Penny said: ‘Any electrical charge from the taser cannot have caused Louis De Zoysa to fire the fourth shot because the gunshot can be heard before the taser.’
The jury were allowed to hold the gun and fire it at Northampton Crown Court today.
Forensic scientist and ballistics expert Anthony Miller explained that the gun was loaded with dummy bullets and was completely safe to be used in the court room, although it was aimed at the ceiling while being fired as an extra precaution.
Mr Miller told the court he had examined the revolver and the ammunition that was recovered after the incident.
Asked by prosecutor Mr Penny if the gun went off by accident during his rigorous testing, Mr Miller said it did not.
Speaking in short and simple sentences so De Zoysa, who suffered brain damage after being hit in the neck by a bullet during the incident, could follow proceedings, Mr Miller said: ‘I dropped it on the ground, I struck it with a cloth-faced hammer and I generally treated it roughly.’
The defendant was 23 when the shooting happened and was living in a flat at a farm in Banstead, Surrey, having bought the gun, which was legal to own due to its antique status, on the internet in June 2020.
The gun had not been discovered during the stop and search of De Zoysa before he was taken to the custody block.
De Zoysa, who appeared in the dock for the third day in a row today in a wheelchair and with his right arm in a sling, denies murder.
