A NURSE was kicked in the face and had graffiti drawn on her during a robbery by a gang of teenage girls, a court heard yesterday.

The 20-year-old victim was on her way to meet her boyfriend when she was approached by the gang near Darlington Civic Theatre, at about 9pm.

One of the attackers, a 15-year-old girl, yesterday pleaded guilty at South Durham Magistrates' Court to breaching a 12-month referral order for the robbery, imposed by magistrates last April.

James Thomas, prosecuting, told the court that the girls asked the nurse for cigarettes and money before becoming aggressive.

"She describes that suddenly she sees them writing graffiti, then suddenly they face her," said Mr Thomas.

He said one of the girls then wrote on her face.

Mr Thomas said the defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, grabbed the victim by her hair, causing her head to hit the wall of the Civic Theatre.

As she fell to the floor she was kicked in the face.

He said the woman begged the girl not to steal her handbag after it was grabbed.

"Her phone fell out on to her chest," said Mr Thomas.

"At that point the defendant grabbed the phone."

He said the woman told police: "She hit the top of my nose with her fist. I felt the pain instantly."

The girls ran off with the mobile phone after the ten-minute attack and the woman was found by two community wardens.

She was treated in hospital for a swollen eye, bruised nose, scratched cheek, bleeding lips and painful back.

"I feel very shaken and annoyed at the whole incident and the fact that people think they have the right to do this to me," she told police.

"In my opinion the females were after a fight. They were hyper and appeared to be very excited by the whole incident."

Magistrates revoked the referral order and re-sentenced the girl to a six-month supervision order.

The order means she must attend school, carry out 28 hours of reparation work and stick to a nighttime curfew for the next 30 days.