A YOUNG woman accused of striking a man with a broken bottle told a court yesterday she had put up her arms when he was about to hit her.

Kelly Murphy, 21, said she had a cigarette, her bag and the drink bottle in her hand when she raised her hands up. She remembered nothing more before waking up on the floor feeling dazed.

Miss Murphy is alleged to have struck the man on the arm with the bottle causing a wound that needed internal stitches and 12 external stitches.

Miss Murphy and her mother Maureen Collings, 42, both of Burnside, Dalton-le-Dale in Seaham, County Durham, appeared before Teesside Crown Court charged with assault causing actual bodily harm.

They have denied the charge.

Miss Murphy has also denied wounding with intent.

The prosecution alleges the two women were involved in an assault on a woman in Sylvia's Bar, Seaham.

But Mrs Collings told the court that the woman in the bar had come at her. She said she was trying to protect herself. Miss Murphy claimed she had no contact with the other woman.

The case continues.