AN alcoholic who said an ex-partner punched her to the ground first claimed face injuries had been inflicted by her father.

Ali Ameziane, 42, of Hoole, had denied assaulting former girlfriend Katherine Patterson, 35, by striking her with a single blow on her doorstep on May 9 this year.

Taking the witness stand in Chester Magistrates Court on Wednesday, Mrs Patterson, of Lucerne Close, Huntington said: “I was expecting a visit from PC Anne Robson. I heard knocking on the front door and I assumed it was her. I opened the door and Ali was there.

“The next thing I remember is Ali moved his arm and I just felt a massive pain in my right eye where he’d smacked me.

“I fell to the floor. I managed to get myself up and saw Ali running round the corner to the next cul-de-sac.”

She suffered bruising to the right eye and the side of her face, and grazes to the forehead, cheekbone and shoulder.

But Mrs Patterson, who attended the Priory in Altrincham for alcohol abuse last year, conceded she had fallen down the stairs days before May 9.

The court heard that when PC Anne Robson arrived to take a statement relating to another allegation against Ameziane – for which no charges were brought – Mrs Patterson gave a mixed account of her injuries.

Mrs Patterson recounted: “I stupidly said I’d had a row with my father and he’d hit me. I was scared of Ali.”

She told the court she had drunk three “mugs” of cider on the morning of the alleged assault and that she still has a drink problem.

Only four days later, when PC Robson visited again, did Mrs Patterson blame Ameziane.

The officer subsequently arrested and charged Ameziane.

Prosecutor Chris Hunt said: “The reliability of this witness is so utterly compromised that no reasonable tribunal could reach the conclusion that there is a case to answer.”

District judge Nicholas Sanders agreed and closed the case after dismissing the charges against Ameziane.