A WOMAN is on trial after shouting racial abuse at a taxi rank worker and punching him on Christmas Eve last year.

Nicole Kupaza, of Meadow Way in Dorney Reach, admits to the assault at Taplow Railway Station but claims that she was acting in self-defence.

The 22-year-old is expected to argue that the employee, Mohammed Malik, racially insulted her first - which he denies.

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Kupaza is now on trial at Reading Crown Court charged with one count of racially aggravated assault.

Opening the case, prosecutor Laura Hollingberry said Mr Malik was working as an operator in the cab office in Approach Road, Taplow at the time of the incident.

She said: “In the early hours of the morning, a lady knocked on the door and asked for a taxi, that lady is this defendant.

“When she entered the office, Mr Malik was one the phone so he politely asked her to wait. She told Mr Malik she didn’t have cash or a card to pay for the taxi.

“He explained to her if she didn’t have any means of paying for the taxi that he couldn’t arrange one. This made her angry and grew impatient.

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“Mr Malik was still on the phone taking a booking so told her to wait outside. He asked her multiple times to wait outside the officer where he would assist her.

“He opened the door and gestured for her to leave. At this point, she pushed Mr Malik and she punched him in the face.

“She started shouting racist abuse such as, ‘Go back to Pakistan’ and ‘You’re an uneducated Pakistani’.”

Mr Malik then reported the matter to the police and Kupaza took part in a voluntary police interview in May the following year.

She was shown CCTV and accepted that she did push and punch Mr Malik but argued it was because he had been ‘aggressive towards her’.

She couldn’t recall specific racist remarks she made but she accepts she made them. She told police it was done in retaliation to racist comments made by Mr Malik.

Miss Hollingberry told the jury it was for them to decide if Kupaza had been acting in self-defence.

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She said: “The Crown say this is no case of self-defence. She lashed out at him and the abuse she shouted at him afterwards was racially aggravated.”

The trial, which is expected to end on Friday (June 23), continues.