Andrew O’Keefe faces fresh AVO charge

Police hit Andrew O’Keefe with an additional breach of AVO as he pleads guilty to cannabis possession.

Andrew O'Keefe. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Police have laid an additional charge of breaching an apprehended violence order against troubled former television star Andrew O’Keefe as his lawyers prepare a new bid for his freedom.

The 50-year-old appeared in Sydney Central Local Court via video link from Silverwater prison on Friday, with his lawyer entering a plea of guilty to possessing 1.5g of cannabis. The drug was found in his serviced apartment in Kent St, Sydney, when he was arrested a little over two weeks ago.

O’Keefe nodded in agreement as his lawyer, Arjun Chhabra, ­entered the plea. Mr Chhabra ­entered a plea of not guilty to six other charges.

The former host of The Chase was arrested and charged in January for allegedly choking, punching and pushing a woman to the ground. Police also allege he ­assaulted her a second time by further punching and kicking her.

The fresh charge is in relation an allegation O’Keefe contacted a previous victim between December 15 and January 26, who cannot be identified due to legal reasons.

O’Keefe has now completed two weeks’ mandatory Covid-19 protective quarantine in the Metropolitan Remand Centre, ­inside Silverwater Prison, and is now eligible to enter the general prison population, but on Monday his lawyers will launch a bid for his freedom.

Earlier this week The Australian revealed O’Keefe’s lawyers are so desperate to get him out of prison and into a health facility that they will bring him before the NSW Supreme Court – the same court over which his late father, respected judge and barrister Barry O’Keefe, presided.

It comes after police indicated they would file a detention application for allegedly breaching an apprehended violence order, in a bid to keep him behind bars.

Sources close to O’Keefe say he needs “urgent mental health treatment” – which can’t be ­administered inside a prison – and fear for his safety.

In recent years the former host of The Chase has been in and out of rehab and psychiatric hospitals.

O’Keefe will face the NSW ­Supreme Court court on Monday for his bail application.