Damian Ellis Spohr pleads not guilty to 30 charges involving five former colleagues
The former out-of-home care manager denied charges including sexual assault and choking at a Newcastle court hearing. A judge will consider where the trial can be held on 5 November.
Damian Ellis Spohr, a former out-of-home care manager, pleaded not guilty to 30 charges involving five female colleagues at Newcastle District Court in New South Wales on 22 October, ABC News reported. The allegations span five years and several locations across the state. Spohr remains in custody while the court works out arrangements for a trial.
Spohr, 30, appeared by video link from Hunter Correctional Centre and answered ‘not guilty, your honour’ as Judge Tim Gartelmann read out each charge, according to ABC’s account of the arraignment. The alleged offences occurred between 2020 and 2025. Spohr denies all the charges.
The charges and alleged locations
ABC reported that the charges include sexual intercourse without consent, aggravated sexual assault causing actual bodily harm, sexual touching, intentionally choking a person and intentionally suffocating a colleague without consent. Gartelmann said some of the alleged choking offences involved rendering a woman unconscious and unable to resist. The charges remain allegations that Spohr has denied.
The alleged incidents took place in Moss Vale, Tweed Heads, Greta, Maitland, Rutherford, Raymond Terrace and Blackalls Park, ABC reported. Apprehended violence orders are in place for all five women, the judge said. ABC reported that Port Stephens-Hunter detectives investigated alleged sexual assaults before Spohr was arrested last year; at the time, he managed out-of-home care at a Hunter community services provider.
The NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian describes statutory out-of-home care as care for a child living away from the parental home under a Children’s Court order that gives parental responsibility to the minister. The office accredits and monitors designated agencies providing that care. It was not established whether Spohr’s former employer was one of those agencies.
Trial arrangements return to court on 5 November
Crown prosecutor Adele Banks called the case extensive and said it involved a large body of text-message evidence, ABC reported. Defence barrister Zoe Alderton estimated that a trial would take five to six weeks. Describing the matter as ‘voluminous and complex’, she said she would seek additional case-management orders to prepare for it.
Gartelmann adjourned the case to 5 November to decide whether Newcastle can accommodate the trial as a special fixture or whether it should move to Sydney, according to ABC. A trial date is expected to be set in November.
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Sources and context
- Out-of-home care manager pleads not guilty to choking, raping colleaguesABC News
- About statutory out-of-home care and adoptionNSW Office of the Children's Guardian
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.