A woman killed her father by throwing a TV remote at her father’s head then pushing him over while he tended to his wounds, a court heard.

Nicola Townsend, 50, was said to be annoyed with the way her dad was talking to her.

She allegedly lobbed the remote control at ‘frail’ Terence Townsend, 78, causing an injury.

When he went to the kitchen to try and treat himself, she allegedly pushed him over breaking some of his ribs.

Terence, of Bath, Somerset, suffered a number of injuries as a result and called his own ambulance after she had fled the scene, Bristol Crown Court as told.

Paramedics then arrived where they found Mr Townsend sitting in an armchair holding a towel to a wound on his head.

He was taken to the Royal United Hospital in Bath where he passed away twelve days later as a result of broncopneumonia brought on by his injuries.

His daughter is charged with manslaughter at his home in Bath on December 27, 2017.

The prosecution alleges that Townsend admitted to brother-in-law Douglas Campbell in a series of voicemails and phone calls that she had assaulted her dad.

Mr Campbell then contacted the police.

Fiona Elder, prosecuting, said: ‘Nicola Townsend says she chucked a remote at Terence Townsend because she was annoyed with him, because of how he was speaking to her, because she was frustrated and angry with him.

‘She assaulted him in the living room then pushed him in the kitchen. She was aware of the frailty of her father.’

Mr Townsend, who suffered with osteoporosis, a condition that makes bones more likely to break, initially said he had hit his head and fallen over and was ‘vague about what had happened’, calling it a ‘family issue’, the court was told.

But he later admitted that he thought Townsend may have thrown an aerosol can at him and, in a police interview, nodded his head when told officers believed his injuries had been caused by his daughter.

The prosecution alleges that Townsend said it was ‘an accident’ during her arrest.

She is also accused of intimidation of a witness after allegedly attempting to contact Mr Campbell after being charged with manslaughter.

Ms Elder said: ‘She made numerous contacts with her brother-in-law, Douglas Campbell. They were of a threatening nature.

‘Nicola Townsend intended for the course of justice to be perverted.’

Townsend denies both charges.

The trial continues.

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