Andrew O’Keefe pleads guilty to cannabis possession
Andrew O’Keefe was charged with a fresh offence of breaching an apprehended violence order on Friday as the former Channel 7 presenter also pleaded guilty to drug possession.
Police & Courts
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Troubled former Channel 7 star Andrew O’Keefe has pleaded guilty to possessing 1.5g of cannabis that was found in his Sydney CBD apartment.
The 50-year-old’s barrister Arjun Chhabra told Central Local Court on Friday that his client was admitting to one count of possessing a prohibited drug that was found inside O’Keefe’s Kent St unit when he was arrested on January 27.
The drug charge was laid against the ex Weekend Sunrise and Deal or No Deal host after he was arrested and charged for allegedly choking and punching a woman at the apartment on January 25.
Mr Chhabra entered pleas of not guilty for O’Keefe in relation to the six charges his client is facing over the alleged incident.
Those charges include two counts of intentionally choking a person, three counts of common assault and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Police prosecutors told the court O’Keefe was charged with a fresh offence on Friday of breaching an apprehended violence order made to protect a person who cannot legally be named.
The prosecutor in the matter told the court an application would be made to revoke O’Keefe’s bail on the charge.
The move is largely procedural at the moment as O’Keefe is currently on remand after his bail was refused in relation to the charges from January 25 at Kent St.
But that could change with O’Keefe’s lawyer Sharon Ramsden preparing to launch a fresh bail application for him in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday.
Mr Chhabra told the court his client would need two weeks to seek legal advice before entering a plea to the fresh charge of breaching the AVO.
O’Keefe, a one time White Ribbon ambassador, appeared on screen for the hearing but was mostly silent.
Magistrate Lisa Viney ordered him to reappear in Central Local Court on February 25 on the criminal charges.
A hearing on a non publication order relating to the alleged Kent St victim will be heard in the same court on March 9.
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