A woman who was smashed over the head with a vodka bottle has spoken of her frustration about the justice system.

Deborah Whitehead says she was the victim of a violent assault which resulted in her getting 11 stitches, but the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence.

The Examiner has spoken to Mrs Whitehead, and we have no way of independently verifying what she has told us.

The police are unable to comment on any individual cases.

Nevertheless, it is clear that she was badly injured.

The 57-year-old, who lives in Douglas, alleges that she got into a ’disagreement’ with a woman in her friend’s house, after the woman had stopped by for a drink.

She said that after being asked to leave the attacker had got up and gone to do so, but in the process, she slipped a vodka bottle under the sleeve of her coat and then hit Mrs Whitehead in the head with it.

Police were called and the woman was arrested, while Mrs Whitehead was taken to hospital for treatment.

Last week, a month after the incident, police from the Criminal Investigation Department called around to her home and told her that the case was being dropped and no charges would be brought against the woman.

Mrs Whitehead said the reason she was given was that when the case went to the Attorney General’s Chambers, they did not believe there was enough evidence for the woman to be convicted in a trial in front of a jury.

She told us that CID officers had explained to her that even though they knew the attacker had committed the assault, the Attorney General’s Chambers had determined that there were not enough reliable witnesses to prove that the woman had committed the assault.

Furthermore, Mrs Whitehead said police explained to her that they could not charge the woman with a lesser crime as because the nature of the alleged assault was too serious, it needed to go to the Attorney General’s Chambers.

She questioned why the case had been dropped, when there was a chance that the attacker could have plead guilty and a prosecution could have been secured that way.

’I think it’s disgusting how she can put a bottle over someone’s head, and not get any type of charge at all,’ Mrs Whitehead said.

’I just can’t believe it.

’They didn’t send the forensic [team] in, there was nothing.’

Mrs Whitehead has since sought legal advice, and will be taking the issue to the police complaints department.

While police present the evidence in cases, it is the Attorney General’s Chambers who make the decisions on prosecutions.

One of the criteria is the likelihood that a case will secure a conviction.