Andrew O’Keefe charged after allegedly testing positive to cocaine and methamphetamine

Former Channel 7 presenter Andrew O’Keefe has been arrested and charged after allegedly failing a drug test.

Andrew O'Keefe leaves Sydney’s Waverley Court on Thursday. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Former Channel 7 presenter Andrew O’Keefe has been released on bail after he was arrested and charged for breaching bail after allegedly failing a drug test – less than one month after he was released from a controversial rehabilitation clinic.

On Thursday afternoon a court heard O’Keefe allegedly returned a positive drug test to methamphetamine and cocaine, with the 51-year-old then arrested at a property in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

At a hearing before a magistrate at Waverley Local Court, O’Keefe’s barrister Sebastian De Brennan told the court the drug swab was contaminated and that O’Keefe was clean.

Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge ruled against the detention application made by police, on the condition he is screened for illicit drugs weekly and he abide by other conditions, including that he continue attending Narcotics Anonymous.

This is former TV presenter Andrew O'Keefe screaming and banging inside the back of a paddy wagon.

He was charged with multiple offences after allegedly assaulting a woman on Tuesday.

Full story: https://t.co/KhJydWGY98pic.twitter.com/4GdUofJ1Sa

— Liam Mendes (@liammendes) January 27, 2022

The former White Ribbon ambassador is currently facing numerous charges and was released on bail in May to attend a controversial rehabilitation clinic on the NSW mid-north coast.

O’Keefe completed his stint in the clinic towards the end of October and was released to live on his own at a Vaucluse property.

“He’d done fantastic with us, just quietly, he’d done very, very well, not one hiccup,” a source at the clinic said.

In a statement, police said he was arrested at a Vaucluse home.

“About 10.40am today (Thursday 24 November 2022), officers from Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command attended a home at Vaucluse and spoke to the occupant, a 51-year-old man,” the statement reads. “He was arrested and taken to Waverley Police Station where he was charged with breach of bail.”

O’Keefe is now contesting a thirteen charges including intentional choking, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault, resisting police, contravene AVO and drug possession.

He will face a hearing on February 6 next year to contest the charges.

In January he was arrested after allegedly grabbing a 38-year-old woman by the throat, punching and pushing her to the ground. Police also allege he assaulted her a second time by further punching and kicking her.

After his arrest, vision of him leaving Day Street police station in the CBD went viral as he verbally lashed out at journalists and kicked the compartment of the police van he was being transported in.

The former ambassador for the anti-domestic violence charity appeared angry and distraught, yelling “I’m a victim of crime” as he was taken to the Sydney Police Centre to spend the night behind bars. “F..k off, get rid of these f..king journalists, you douchebags,” he yelled.

O’Keefe will return to court on December 14.