A teacher at an elite private school in Australia has been accused of sexually manipulating and assaulting a student under the age of 16, including during a school trip, according to court records.
Deandra Kontou – a former geography lecturer at Newington College in Sydney – was charged with nine child abuse offenses for her conduct over a six-month period in 2017, the Greek Herald reported.
Kontou, 32, left the prestigious private school, which costs more than $33,000 a year, in 2019 after the allegations were reported to administrators.
The former teacher, who went by the name Ms. Haralambidis during her time at Newington, allegedly showed the student indecent material, sent him messages and coerced him into sexual acts, prosecutors said.
The incidents are believed to have taken place in the school’s Stanmore building during school hours.
Kontou was also accused of touching the student twice during a senior boys’ trip to Australia’s Fitzroy Island, about 1,200 miles from Sydney, and then sexually assaulting him.
Kontou resigned after the allegations were first raised with the school, with the teacher subsequently hired at Georges River College public high school in 2024.
She was arrested and granted bail last month at Sutherland Local Court on the condition that she surrender her passport and report daily to police, Nine.com reported. He is also prohibited from teaching children.
The NSW Department of Education has since stripped Kontou of her teaching accreditation, with the former teacher due to appear in Burwood Local Court next month.
Kontou’s case comes just months after another Newington teacher, Benjamin David Collinge, was accused of manipulating a 14-year-old girl online.
Newington College said it does not tolerate any behavior that violates its professional standards or the law, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Newington College is a prestigious K-12 school serving boys and girls across its Stanmore and Sydney campuses.
Graduates include senior Australian government officials and royals from the Pacific island nations Tonga and Fiji.
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