A BONHILL man facing a charge of assault has walked free from court after his alleged victim twice failed to show up to give evidence against him.

Grant Devlin, 37, of Dillichip Terrace, was charged with repeatedly spitting on a woman at the Ladyton shopping centre on December 31, 2014.

But the case was dropped after a sheriff rejected prosecutors' attempts to continue it to another date – and a warrant has now been granted for the woman's arrest.

Devlin was due to stand trial for the alleged offence at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Thursday.

After a court official confirmed that the woman was not present, fiscal depute Carol Cameron asked Sheriff Simon Pender to adjourn the case to a future date, pointing out that the woman had been personally given instructions to come to court.

Ms Cameron said: “There has previously been a Crown motion to adjourn, on March 3, because civilian witnesses were not present.

“Warrants do not appear to have been sought for the witnesses on that date.”

Devlin's solicitor, Graham Bryson, told the court he was opposing the Crown's motion.

Mr Bryson said: “There has already been one occasion when the complainer has not been present.

“The complainer is not a stranger to these courts. In my submission the balance of the public interest and the interest of the accused now tips decisively in my client's favour.”

Sheriff Simon Pender, noting that the case had not come to court until June last year, asked for an explanation of the long delay between the date of the alleged offence and the first court hearing.

Ms Cameron said: “It was dealt with by my office for the first time on May 22, 2016.

“The case involved DNA evidence. That would appear to have occasioned some difficulty.

“Police only reported it to my office after the outcome of their investigations into the DNA evidence.”

Mr Bryson said his client had first been interviewed by police in connection with the allegation on May 4, 2015.

Rejecting the Crown's motion, Sheriff Pender said: “This should have been dealt with expeditiously. It's now almost two and a half years since the offence was allegedly committed. In my view it is not in the public interest to grant any further motion to adjourn.”

Sheriff Pender did, however, grant a Crown motion for a warrant to apprehend the complainer in the charge against Devlin.