Woman accused of pushing and killing pensioner in Lloyds Bank claims she acted in self-defence

A 26-year-old woman accused of killing a pensioner in a bank by pushing her over said she was acting in self-defence.

Courtney Richman said she reacted instinctively after pensioner Myra Coutinho-Lopez, 82, hit her with her handbag.

She told a jury at her trial for manslaughter that customers had been queuing at Lloyds Bank in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, as Mrs Coutinho-Lopez was arguing with a cashier.

She then told Mrs Coutinho-Lopez: “We’ve all got things to do and there are people behind you and you are holding us all up."

Another customer moved the 82-year-old woman away, to which Richman clapped.

According to Richman, the elderly woman said: “Your man must have left you” and “you should get a man”.

Mrs Coutinho-Lopez was said to have "whacked" the 26-year-old on the bank with her handbag.

Richman said she acted instinctively, adding: “I wasn’t thinking anything. I just reacted. I pushed her away from me."

She added: "Because she had just hit me and I thought she was going to do it again. I did not expect her to go to the floor."

Mrs Coutinho-Lopez, who had Alzheimer's, died 10 days afterwards, on 16 December 2021.

Richman of Queens Avenue, Welwyn Garden City, denies manslaughter and a lesser charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

She told the jury: ”People were commenting on how she should move along,” adding that other people in the bank were getting “restless”.

She said Mrs Coutinho-Lopez refused to move, describing her as “quite annoyed”, before telling the bank worker to "call the police, I'm not going anywhere".

Asked if she ever shouted or swore at Ms Coutinho-Lopez she insisted she had not, but she was feeling impatient.

She denied telling the elderly woman to "f*** off".

The prosecutor said Richman had “upped the ante” by sarcastically applauding because she “thought it would be funny”. The defendant said that she was not being sarcastic.

Richman described the amount of force she used as reasonable and said she told the pensioner: “I am not your punchbag.”

The next day she returned to the bank to carry out the transaction she was unable to complete before, but was escorted into a small room by a plain-clothes police officer.

Her barrister asked her: “As far as you are concerned, did you do anything to lead to being hit?” to which Ms Richman said “no”.

She said she did not mean to cause the victim any harm, but having been hit once thought it would happen again.

The prosecutor suggested she had become angry because of the pensioner's personal comments, but Richman said she was merely frustrated.

He suggested the handbag swing had not caused Richman any alarm and that pushing the elderly woman was an “angry retaliation”. Richman was adamant she was not angry and that the push was in self-defence.

Asked about the death of Mrs Coutinho-Lopez, she added: "I feel terrible, I think about it every day since it has happened and I feel very sorry that she is no longer here."

She agreed with the prosecutor that if Mrs Coutinho-Lopez thought money had gone missing from her account, she would have expected to take as long as she needed.

Mr Mulgrew said witnesses described the victim as confused and bewildered. But she said it "wasn't obvious" to her that Mrs Coutinho-Lopez had a cognitive issue.

The trial continues at Luton Crown Court.

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