Teachers in Australia and Malaysia face serious sexual assault and grooming charges in separate cases.

A former Sydney teacher has been charged with nine sex offenses, including aggravated sexual assault and grooming, over allegations involving a student believed to have been under 16. She was granted conditional bail, with restrictions including no contact with the alleged victim and no work involving children, and is due back in court in November. Separately, a 48-year-old religious teacher in Ipoh, Malaysia, pleaded not guilty to three charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student at school in 2024. The court granted her bail of RM10,000, and the charges carry a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison and whipping if she is convicted.
The Sydney accused is named as Deandra Kontou, 32, and previously worked at Newington College for two years, leaving in 2019. Police allege she used an electronic device to groom the student before the assault.
Kontou’s bail conditions also require her to report weekly to police, surrender her passport and not enter an international departure point in Australia; she is due at Burwood Local Court on November 25.
In Ipoh, the allegations specify that the teacher kissed the student in November 2024, hugged him the following month, and allegedly had him touch her chest in November; the incidents were said to have occurred in an Islamic Education room at about 3.30pm.
The Malaysian prosecutor argued against bail because the offences were non-bailable and serious, while the defense cited the teacher’s role as her family’s main income source, her six children, health issues and husband’s health problems. The court set RM10,000 bail with one surety and scheduled October 28 for document submission and a case mention.
Publishers
15
Articles
14
Reach
29