The trial of a senior Government care worker charged with an assault a teenager in her care will return to Magistrates’ Court next year.

Kennette Robinson, 52, has denied charges that she punched and mistreated a 17-year-old girl in an incident at the LF Wade International Airport last year.

Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions, closed the prosecution’s case against Ms Robinson, the assistant director at the Department of Child and Family Services, yesterday.

But Charles Richardson, who appeared for Ms Robinson, asked the court rule his client had no case to answer.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo heard submissions from both sides and adjourned the case until January 14.

The alleged victim – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – said earlier in the trial she had misbehaved to avoid being sent to a treatment centre in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 8 last year.

She told Magistrates’s Court Ms Robinson had confiscated personal belongings in a bid to persuade her to get on the flight and the conflict escalated when she tried to take back her things.

The complainant said Ms Robinson stepped on her headphones, punched her in the stomach and gripped her by the throat.

But Mr Richardson suggested the teenager had acted in an aggressive way to Ms Robinson.

He also suggested that Ms Robinson did not punch the girl in the stomach and had pushed her “in the area” of her neck rather than choke her.

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