By Sally Rawsthorne and Amber Schultz
Troubled former TV host Andrew O’Keefe says calling triple zero about his ex-partner’s “repeated” suicide threats is what led him to being arrested just hours after fronting court on Wednesday.
The former host of Deal or No Deal was arrested at his Vaucluse home on Wednesday afternoon and charged with breaching a bail condition, hours after he had appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court the same morning on charges of intimidation and breaching an ADVO.
Former TV host Andrew O’Keefe leaves Waverley police station on Wednesday afternoon.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
On Wednesday afternoon, magistrate Michael Barko said the breach was born of confusing wording in O’Keefe’s bail conditions, which specified he must not contact prosecution witnesses.
It did not specify that his former partner, the alleged victim of the intimidation whom he contacted on Wednesday, was a prosecution witness.
Speaking to the Herald outside Waverley police station, O’Keefe said: “This morning I was contacted by an ex-partner, who was threatening to commit suicide repeatedly.
“I got out of court to discover a message that said she was just about to do it. I called triple zero and went to the police station to report it, as a consequence of which I was arrested over an order that I didn’t know existed.”
O’Keefe, 52, was charged with intimidation and breaching an ADVO at Point Piper at the end of last month, and released on bail.
Dressed in a black jacket, he sat quietly in the dock at Waverley police station and tried to wave at his solicitor, high-profile criminal lawyer Sharon Ramsden, on videolink.
“Why would you want to speak?” asked Barko when O’Keefe said he wanted to address the court with “important information” of which he said Ramsden was unaware. O’Keefe did not address the court.
“As of today’s date, he is on a conditional release order for a breached AVO, on bail for another breached AVO and has an appeal before a higher court for another breach of AVO,” a police prosecutor told the court in arguing on Wednesday afternoon for O’Keefe’s bail to be revoked.
At Wednesday afternoon’s hearing, Barko allowed O’Keefe to remain on bail, telling him he needed to “control himself”.
“I’ve had no prior dealings with the defendant. Like every member of the public, I’ve seen him on television, I’ve seen his progress through the criminal justice system,” Barko said.
Acknowledging it was a “difficult matter”, Barko granted O’Keefe bail with a strict warning.
“Don’t push boundaries. If she calls you tonight and says, ‘Hello darling, please call me back’ and you call her back, you’re committing a crime. Don’t fall into that trap of being in breach of the order, don’t come to the court with tears in your eyes,” he said.
O’Keefe’s arrest comes after dramatic police bodycam footage emerged of the former TV star being arrested on domestic violence charges in 2021.
In the footage, O’Keefe verbally abuses police officers arresting him for assault and breaching an apprehended violence order as they struggle to restrain him.
“This is what happens when I don’t have my medication,” O’Keefe shouts at one of the officers after he is informed of the charges against him.
“This is a very simple request. Why are you being such f---ing Nazis about it?”
O’Keefe was found guilty in January of kicking, pushing and spitting at a woman and of possessing 1.6 grams of mephedrone, or meow meow, at a Sydney hotel. He is appealing against the convictions.
Support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14 and from the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service (1800RESPECT) on 1800 737 732.
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