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Mary* has spent 25 years making her name in the medical field, and in less than three months, a woman who she describes as a nuisance has managed to tear it all down.

Added to that, Mary is disgruntled at what she believes is an ineffective justice system that appears unable to punish the culprit.

Mary told THE STAR that the woman started posting untrue and derogatory comments about her after she found out that she was dating her ex-boyfriend.

"The guy and I used to date in high school and we lost touch. We got back in contact for a while now and since me and my husband separated, we started to date," she said.

Mary said the attacks against her started in May when she received numerous messages from co-workers and students asking about a post that was made about her on a popular gossip social media site.

She said that since then, her Facebook photos have been taken down and redone with the words 'herpes' or 'herpes pu**y' on them.

She said that this has destroyed her family life, as her children have become a subject of conversation, and one of them has even moved out, unable to manage the embarrassment.

"She messages me and calls me. She even threaten me and said that she a go get man f**k me up," she said.

Mary told THE STAR that she went to a police station to report the threats; however she was told that unless the word 'killed' was mentioned in the threat, there is nothing they could do.

Hard Time

She told the news team that she went to the Cyber Crimes Unit to report the matter in June and was given a hard time.

"I was there for six hours and my statement was not even completed. I have to go back and every time I call and ask for the officer, they said he is not there and they are not sure when he is coming in," she said.

Head of the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime unit, Senior Superintendent Adrian McKlurkin, said that unless the cyber crime law has been broken, there is nothing they can do.

"The Cybercrimes Unit can only act unless it is a breach of the law because if someone is saying something about you, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is a breach of the cybercrimes act," he said. "If someone takes down your photograph or deface your photograph, that is not a breach of any law."

That is no comfort to Mary who said that her reputation has been ruined.

"It is very embarrassing because people are texting me and asking me if I saw and heard what is being circulated around the media of me. I have spent 25 years making a name and my name has a reputation and this woman is tarnishing it," she said.

McKlurkin said, "There is thin line between a criminal and civil action so if someone is putting something on social media and it is not true what they need to do is speak to their lawyer. If it is civil matter, the cyber crimes unit was not built to deal with it."

Attorney Hugh Wildman said that in a case where someone thinks they are being attacked on social media, they can file a lawsuit.

He added that in civil cases, the onus is on the complainant to provide evidence.

"She can file a lawsuit and get an injunction as long as she knows who is doing it. She has to be able to say who is doing it. It would be on her to prove that person is the one that is doing these things," she said.

*name changed