A budding influencer has admitted throwing a lamp at her ex-boyfriend at an upmarket Japanese eatery in an attack which left him with a gash to the head.
Property developer Dean Contos was dining with his current partner at Tanuki in Sydney's Double Bay two months ago when part-time model Natalie Marangos walked into the restaurant.
CCTV captured what happened next as Marangos picked up a table lamp about 10.40pm on February 22 and threw it at Contos's face, causing a cut to his forehead.
Pictures taken shortly after the confrontation and obtained by Daily Mail Australia show the injury, as well as blood on Contos's T-shirt and right hand.
Marangos left the restaurant before police arrived and was arrested the following night at a Hurstville Grove address in Sydney's southern suburbs.
She was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harmand appeared in Downing Centre Local Court for the first time on February 27.
On that day, solicitor Kiki Kyriacou said Marangos would be assessed by a psychiatrist or psychologist and he would investigate having the assault charge dealt with under mental health provisions of the law.
Mr Kyriacou would also seek to view CCTV footage of the alleged restaurant incident and speak to the Director of Public Prosecutions about separate charges against Contos.
Budding influencer Natalie Marangos has admitted throwing a lamp at her ex-boyfriend Dean Contos at an upmarket Japanese eatery in an attack which left him with a gash to the head
Graphic images have emerged of the head wound property developer Dean Contos suffered after Natalie Marangos threw a lamp at him while he dined at Tanuki in Double Bay
Marangos, 34, and Contos, 37, are both the subjects of interim apprehended violence orders protecting them from each other.
Contos, who served almost four years in jail for kidnapping two cleaners in 2019, spent three months behind bars after being accused of choking and stalking Marangos last year.
He was set to face a District Court trial in coming months but in late February the Director of Public Prosecutions elected to have the charges heard by a magistrate.
Marangos was back before court on March 19 when she pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Contos was arrested on May 7 last year and charged with stalking Marangos at Riverview between 10am and 7.23pm that day, and breaching a restraining order.
Four months later, he was arrested and refused bail after allegedly choking Marangos at Riverview on Sydney's lower north shore between 6pm on August 30 and 9am on August 31.
Contos was also charged with a second count of contravening an AVO.
He was hit with a fifth charge on February 27 when police accused him of installing a tracking device 'to determine [her] geographical location without her consent'.
Marangos has pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and is listed for sentence later this month. She is pictured outside court
The tracking device was allegedly installed on the night Contos is accused of having stalked her.
Contos pleaded not guilty to the stalk or intimidate charge and one of the alleged AVO breaches in September but has not entered pleas to the other charges.
He is on bail which requires him to wear a electronic monitoring devices and includes conditions he not enter Hurstville or go within 3km of that area.
Contos is not to contact Marangos, not to drink alcoholor take drugs which have not been prescribed by a doctor and has to report every day to police.
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 District Court heard Contos had ambushed two men when they showed up to clean his three-bedroom harbourside apartment at Milsons Point about 4.20pm on February 20, 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.
CCTV captured Marangos pick up a table lamp and throw it at Contos's face, causing a cut to his forehead. He is pictured after the attack with blood on his hand
At one point, one of Contos' companions took that cleaner's mobile phone and said: 'You have beautiful kids and wife - if you want to see them again you have to pay $10,000.'
When the cleaner said he had cash at home he was rolled up in a tarpaulin and driven with his co-worker to the first cleaner's home at Lidcombe in Sydney's west.
Once at the house, the cleaner screamed to his wife in Korean, 'Don't open the door, call the police' then said in English, 'Can you open the door and get the $10,000?'
Denied access to the house, Contos and one of his friends took the cleaner back to Contos' Toyota Hilux and resumed assaulting him.
The kidnappers drove away with the cleaners and dropped them off in North Sydney about 9.05pm.
Contos presented himself to Manly police station two days later and said he was 'wanted'.
The District Court heard Contos had a stable upbringing as the oldest of four siblings and had worked in real estate most of his adult life.
The kidnapping offences were described as 'out of character' and he had no prior convictions for violence.
Contos was arrested in September after he allegedly choked Marangos (above) at Riverview on Sydney's lower north shore and spent almost three months behind bars
Having been jailed for at least three years and ten months, Contos went to the Court of Criminal Appeal to challenge the severity of his sentence.
That court dismissed Contos' appeal and ordered the original prison term to stand.
'The applicant's offending was serious,' Justice Paul Brereton said.
'The applicant planned, instigated, and carried out the kidnapping, and enlisted the two co-offenders to assist.'
Marangos is due to sentenced for assaulting Contos on April 30. Contos is listed for a hearing on all the charges related to Marangos on December 8.
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