Former teacher Lina Costanzo pleads not guilty to charges of abusing three children

A former teacher and Education Department worker has been ordered to stand trial on charges of allegedly abusing three children.

Editor's note: Please note that Ms Lina Costanzo has been acquitted of all sex charges from December 2023. A former teacher and Education Department co-ordinator has been ordered to stand trial on charges of allegedly abusing three separate victims over more than 10 years.

Lina Costanzo, 51, of Tranmere, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday charged with three counts of persistent exploitation of a child between 1989 and 2002.

Craig Caldicott, for Ms Costanzo, told the court his client would be pleading not guilty to each of the charges but said a case to answer was conceded.

Magistrate Briony Kennewell committed the case to the District Court, where Ms Constanzo is due to appear in October.

Lina Costanzo has been ordered to stand trial on charges of allegedly abusing three separate victims over more than 10 years. Image: Russell Millard

Court documents previously viewed by The Advertiser allege Ms Costanzo “maintained an unlawful sexual relationship” with each victim, all of which were allegedly aged under 17 at the time.

The documents allege she “engaged in two or more unlawful acts with or towards” one victim over five years from February 1989.

She allegedly abused another victim over five years beginning in September 1990 at Glenelg and other places.

A third victim was also allegedly abused at Glenelg and other places over a decade between 1992 and 2002.

That offence also allegedly involved showing pornography to the child on more than one occasion.

Lina Costanzo who is facing charges of Persistent Sexual Exploitation Of Child. Picture: LinkedIn

The documents allege one of her victims was female and two were male.

Ms Costanzo’s online LinkedIn profile states she was an English as A Second Language or Dialect co-ordinator with the Education Department since January 2019.

Before that, her profile states she worked for Catholic Education in South Australia for 27 years from January 1992.

Ms Costanzo was previously “directed away from her job” with the department in October last year. Her teaching registration was cancelled in April.

She will next appear in court in October.