A property developer who made headlines when his ex-girlfriend threw a lamp at his head in an upmarket Japanese restaurant has been cleared of choking the same woman.
Dean Contos spent three months in jail after being charged with a string of domestic violence offences allegedly committed against model and aspiring influencer Natalie Marangos.
The 38-year-old was on bail and enjoying a night out with his new partner when he encountered Marangos at Tanuki in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs last February.
A court later heard Marangos had been in the back section of the Double Bay eatery and nightclub when Contos and his girlfriend walked outside about 10.40pm.
The unidentified woman pitched an entire martini over 34-year-old Marangos, who ‘instinctively’ reacted by picking up the nearest object and hurling it at Contos.
The plastic lamp hit Contos on the forehead, causing a cut and blood to run down his face onto his clothes.
Contos, who served almost four years in jail for kidnapping two cleaners he believed had stolen from him in 2019, was treated by staff and police were called.
Pictures taken shortly after the confrontation and obtained by the Daily Mail show the injury to Contos, as well as blood on his T-shirt and right hand.
Property developer Dean Contos, who made headlines when his ex-girlfriend Natalie Marangos threw a lamp at his head in an upmarket Japanese restaurant has been cleared of choking her
Graphic images show the head wound Dean Contos suffered after Natalie Marangos threw a lamp at him while he dined at Tanuki in Double Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburbs
Marangos left the restaurant before police arrived and was arrested the following night at a Hurstville Grove address in Sydney’s south.
Some of the history between Contos and Marangos was outlined after she pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm in April last year.
Contos and Marangos had known each other for some years and resumed a relationship in December 2022, six months after her father died.
She had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after unsuccessfully performing CPR on her dying dad.
The couple split in August 2024, following what Marangos alleges was a physical attack by Contos.
When Marangos was being sentenced in August, solicitor Kiki Kyriacou said his client had been exposed to coercive control in her relationship with Contos.
He had given her an Audi then taken it back.
Mr Kyriacou said Contos had also breached a restraining order multiple times but Marangos had been too scared to report his conduct.
When Marangos (above) was being sentenced in August, solicitor Kiki Kyriacou said his client had been exposed to coercive control in her relationship with Contos
Contos, who served almost four years in jail for kidnapping two cleaners he believed had stolen from him in 2019, was treated by staff and police were called. He is pictured after the attack
Contos had been arrested in May 2024 and charged with stalking Marangos at Riverview, on Sydney’s lower north shore, and breaching a restraining order.
Four months later, he was arrested and refused bail after allegedly choking Marangos at Riverview in August.
Contos was also charged with a second count of contravening an AVO and spent three months behind bars on remand.
He was hit with a fifth charge in February when police accused him of installing a tracking device ‘to determine [her] geographical location without her consent’.
Contos has been described as a property developer, but at Marangos’s sentencing hearing magistrate Christine Haskett asked if he was currently employed.
Mr Kyriacou checked with his client, whose response from the public gallery he interpreted for Ms Haskett: ‘I think he doesn’t have a real job.’
The solicitor then agreed when the magistrate suggested Contos had ‘other sources of income’.
Mr Kyriacou submitted Marangos should be dealt with under Section 14 of the Mental Health Act, but the prosecutor objected, describing the lamp-throwing as a ‘violent assault’.
Contos, 38, and Marangos, 34, had known each other for some years and resumed a relationship in December 2022, six months after her father died. Marangos is pictured
In granting the defence application, Ms Haskett noted Marangos’s PTSD diagnosis, the nature of her relationship with Contos, and the likelihood she would not reoffend.
Ms Haskett also said Marangos would experience ongoing anxiety as she waited for Contos’s criminal charges to be heard.
Upon hearing the assault occasioning bodily harm charge had been dismissed, Marangos said, ‘Thank you so much.’
Marangos consented to a two-year apprehended violence order police had sought to protect Contos from her.
Contos remained on bail which required him to wear an electronic monitoring device and included conditions he not enter Hurstville or go within 3km of that area.
He was not to contact Marangos, not to drink alcohol or take drugs which had not been prescribed by a doctor, and had to report every day to police.
When Contos appeared in Downing Centre Local Court on December 10, the charges of stalking, contravening an AVO and installing a tracking device were dismissed.
The following day at the same court Contos was found not guilty of three remaining charges: intentionally choking a person, a second count of contravening an AVO, and one of common assault which had been added on December 5.
Contos was jailed for a minimum term of three years and 10 months in March 2021 after he pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated kidnapping. He is pictured in a court sketch
He remains the subject of two interim AVOs sought by police to protect Marangos, which will be mentioned on March 6.
In March 2021, Contos was jailed for five years and 10 months, with a minimum term of three years and 10 months, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated kidnapping.
The NSW District Court heard Contos had ambushed two men when they showed up to clean his three-bedroom harbourside apartment at Milsons Point in February 2019.
Contos had been convinced one of the cleaners had been stealing his property and enlisted two mates to kidnap both men.
The cleaner Contos accused of stealing was repeatedly threatened and assaulted during an ordeal which lasted almost five hours and left him seriously injured with multiple broken ribs.
