{"id":604242,"date":"2026-04-13T14:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604242\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T14:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:28:12","slug":"former-darwin-teacher-faces-trial-for-allegedly-striking-student-in-the-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604242\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Darwin teacher faces trial for allegedly striking student in the face"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Darwin school teacher charged with striking a female student in the face, allegedly causing her to facture her front teeth, after she asked for her phone back and called him “dumb”, did so by accident and is sorry, a court has heard.<\/p>\n

Darroch Robinson pleaded not guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to one count of causing serious harm following the incident at the then-Darwin Middle School where he was teaching in 2024.<\/p>\n

In his opening statement at the start of the trial on Monday, Crown prosecutor Brandon Bodel told the jury the strike was deliberate and delivered in “anger” during an argument over the student’s confiscated phone.<\/p>\n

Mr Bodel said the “physically small” student had been using her phone in class before Mr Robinson took it.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The court heard the incident happened after the girl returned to Darwin High School \u2014 then known as Darwin Middle School \u2014 to collect her phone. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

He said she later left the classroom and wandered the school grounds with a friend before eventually being sent home by the principal.<\/p>\n

When she returned to collect her phone, the court heard the girl asked for it back and when Mr Robinson refused, she asked him: “Are you dumb?”<\/p>\n

Students to testify<\/p>\n

Mr Bodel told the jury the student’s evidence would be that the teacher “swung his forearm or elbow at her, hitting her mouth”.<\/p>\n

He said the force knocked the girl “onto a table and onto the ground” and the interaction resulted in her fracturing her front teeth.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Darroch Robinson’s defence lawyer told the court “he didn’t mean it and he is sorry” for accidentally striking the girl. (ABC News: Roxanne Fitzgerald)<\/p>\n

“[She] will tell you that after being hit and suffering her injury, she says to the accused ‘you’ve ruined my life’,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It is alleged that he responded ‘I don’t care’.”<\/p>\n

The court heard the student would give evidence that her teeth were damaged by the alleged blow itself, rather than by hitting the table.<\/p>\n

But Mr Bodel argued the injury was caused by the teacher’s “deliberate action” either way.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brandon Bodel says the force of Darroch Robinson’s alleged strike knocked the girl “onto a table and onto the ground”. (ABC News: Roxanne Fitzgerald)<\/p>\n

Mr Bodel told the jury they would also hear from two other students who witnessed the incident and both agreed Mr Robinson struck the girl during the argument.<\/p>\n

“[One student] will say in his evidence that the accused turned around, bent down and hit her, but he did not personally see [the girl] hit her head on the table,” he said.<\/p>\n

‘He didn’t mean it and he is sorry’<\/p>\n

Defence lawyer Peter Maley told the jury his client did not intend to hit the girl, describing the incident as an “accident” in a busy classroom.<\/p>\n

Mr Maley said Mr Robinson had been dealing with “kids misbehaving” and “coming and going” and the girl was behind him when she said “insulting words”.<\/p>\n

“He turns round, really quickly and has impacted his elbow or forearm with the child,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The child then stumbles, hits the desk and then falls on the ground and chips her front teeth \u2014 that’s it.”<\/p>\n

Mr Maley said to make its case, the Crown must prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Robinson intended both the strike and the resulting harm.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Defence lawyer Peter Maley says his client had been dealing with misbehaving students at the time of the incident and that “accidents happen”. (ABC News: Roxanne Fitzgerald)<\/p>\n

“We’re saying accidents happen, sometimes things happen and no one’s to blame,” he said.<\/p>\n

“He didn’t intend it, he didn’t mean it and he is sorry.”<\/p>\n

The trial continues in Darwin on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Darwin school teacher charged with striking a female student in the face, allegedly causing her to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[294223,294224,294222,43,44,8867,20637,294221,294220,30023,41,39,42,40,1109],"class_list":{"0":"post-604242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-broken-teeth","9":"tag-darwin-high-school","10":"tag-girl-face","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-northern-territory","14":"tag-school","15":"tag-serious-harm","16":"tag-student-assualt","17":"tag-teacher","18":"tag-top-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topnews","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-trial"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}