A former teacher at Sydney’s prestigious Newington College has been charged with allegedly raping and sexually touching a student after using an electronic device to groom the alleged victim.
Deandra Kontou, 32, was arrested last week over allegations that she sexually assaulted and groomed a student in her care. Detectives believe the alleged victim was under 16 when the offences occurred.
Kontou, who taught at the all-boys private school for two years before leaving in 2019, faces nine sex-offence charges following a lengthy investigation.
The allegations include aggravated sexual assault of a person under the accused’s authority, grooming a child for unlawful sexual activity, and aggravated offences involving inciting sexual acts, sexual touching and using a carriage service to groom a child for sex.
Kontou was granted conditional bail last week and allowed to return to her home in Sydney’s south. Property records indicate the house is valued at $1.8 million.
She is due to appear before Burwood Local Court on November 25.
Under her strict bail conditions, Kontou must report weekly to Sutherland Police Station, surrender her passport and stay away from international points of departure, including within 500 metres of them.
She is also prohibited from entering schools or taking teaching roles involving contact with children. Kontou must not contact the alleged victim or prosecution witnesses, and cannot be alone with a child unless another adult is present.
Deandra Kontou, 32, was arrested over allegations that she raped and groomed a student in her care. She is pictured at a pre-wedding celebration in April 2017.
Kontou began working at Sydney’s prestigious Newington College in late 2017.
The Daily Mail can reveal that Kontou was newly married when she joined Newington College, where annual secondary-school fees begin at $44,000.
Only months earlier, Kontou—known as ‘Miss Dee’ in a post by her gym—had been working to lose weight ahead of her wedding to her husband, George, who has since deleted his LinkedIn account.
In a February 2018 post about her weight loss, her personal trainer praised Kontou’s regular attendance at personal-training sessions and independent workouts while managing “a busy school teacher” role and growing responsibilities.
The trainer said Kontou had begun a new four-part programme centred on weight training to enhance her natural shape, describing her as “the princess of weight loss”.
In a separate post, the trainer commended Kontou for maintaining her gym routine while balancing a busy working life as a school teacher and after-hours tutor.
When the Daily Mail sought comment from family members on Tuesday, some denied having any connection to Kontou.
A woman who identified herself as Kontou’s sister-in-law—the sister of her husband, George—said she would prefer the reporter not to “stalk” her Facebook account and declined to comment further before ending the call.
The allegations are not the first controversy to involve the private school. In 2023, Newington announced plans to admit girls, prompting some parents and alumni to launch legal action in the NSW Supreme Court.
Kontou was celebrating her upcoming wedding when she joined the all-boys school.
Her personal trainer praised ‘Miss Dee’ for maintaining her gym routine while managing “a busy work life as a school teacher and after-hours tutor”.
Lawyers claimed the school was formed to teach males, pointing to a trust deed from 1873 that described Newington College as ‘an efficient college for youth’.
They argued the term ‘youth’ was limited to the advancement of education of boys and young men.
A judge dismissed the matter in May 2025, ruling the word ‘youth’ in the trust deed was used in a gender-neutral sense.
In March, a music teacher was sacked after he was accused of offering to pay a teenage girl for sexual material.
Benjamin David Collinge, 29, was later arrested and charged with using a carriage service to groom a child under 16 for sex, and using a carriage service to access child abuse material.
Collinge had been providing classroom support in the music department at Newington College on a casual basis.
A Newington spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘As this matter is before the Courts, we are not able to provide any further comment at this time.’
– READ MORE: Music support worker, 29, is sacked at $48,000-a-year Newington College after he is arrested and accused of sickening child abuse act