A woman accused of murdering a teenage boy has told jurors she lashed out at him with a baseball bat because she thought he was going to attack her.

Kiahna Trott-Edwards said she “knew” Shijuan Mungal was going to hit her so she reached for a baseball bat and swung it at him.

Ms Trott-Edwards is accused of inflicting the fatal blow that caused Mr Mungal’s death in September last year. Prosecutors say that she hit the 16-year-old twice during the attack, fracturing his skull and causing bleeding on the brain.

Yesterday, the 32-year-old mother took the stand for the first time and told the court Mr Mungal had come “straight at” her in an aggressive manner.

“He was coming towards me, straight at me, and I just reached over, grabbed the bat and swung,” she said.

“He was coming towards me to hit me. I could tell from his body language, everything he was saying and because he was coming straight at me.

“As soon as I picked up the bat I just swung it in one motion. It hit his left arm.

“After I hit him he went to punch me and I swung a second time. When I swung again I swung the exact same spot and I assumed it would hit him in the exact same spot.

“He ducked a bit and it hit him right in the back of his head. He fell to his knees.”

The jury has been told that both Ms Trott-Edwards and Mr Mungal had been involved in an argument on a bus prior to the fatal confrontation on September 8, last year.

Ms Trott-Edwards yesterday told jurors that the teenager had been cursing in an aggressive way on the bus and that she had told him to “be more respectful” of adults and children on the bus.

“Once the bus crossed Elbow and went up Southcote Road that is when the mood changed,” she said.

“There was one voice — I was not sure who it was at the time — but it became extra loud and aggressive. I just remember him saying ‘I will f*** you up’.”

“My daughter was sitting next to me and she was looking at me and I just could not believe someone was behaving like that on a bus.

“I turned around and said: “Could you have some respect — there are adults and children on the bus”.

“He told me: ‘Shut the f*** up, turn around and sit the f*** down. Do I look like your son to you? You are not my mama’.

“I said: ‘I could not have been your mama because I would have cut your tail a long time ago. Then I pushed the button to get off.”

Ms Trott-Edwards told jurors she had got off the bus before her stop to avoid any further confrontation.

But she said that she bumped into Mr Mungal and his friends again at the entrance to her apartment complex.

“I said to Shijuan: ‘you have a nerve to be coming in my yard after being so disrespectful in the bus’,” she told the court.

“His body language was very disrespectful as well as what he said.”

Ms Trott-Edwards said that after she had swung the bat at Mr Mungal he fell to the ground and his friend, Ja-Ja DeSilva, came to help him.

“He helped Shijuan up, then Ja-Ja said ‘let’s go’,” she said.

“I heard Shijuan say: ‘I am going to f*** this lady up’. I told him that when he came back he should bring his mama and daddy with him because he had been so disrespectful.”

She told jurors that was the last time she saw Mr Mungal and she went back to her home and sat outside.

“I was just in shock. I just put the bat back down where it was,” she said.

Ms Trott-Edwards denies murder.

The trial continues.