Police apply for an AVO against Andrew O’Keefe

Police have applied for an AVO after former TV presenter Andrew O’Keefe was charged with assaulting a woman.

Former White Ribbon ambassador and television presenter Andrew O’Keefe left a Sydney police station screaming and banging inside a paddy wagon on Thursday afternoon after being charged with allegedly assaulting a woman.

O’Keefe 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.

Police have also applied for a provisional apprehended violence order to protect the woman, which will be heard at Downing Centre Local Court on February 2.

Under the terms of the order, O’Keefe is forbidden from approaching the woman in any way.

He is also prohibited from assaulting, threatening, stalking, harassing or intimidating the woman, or damaging any of her property.

The 50-year-old is alleged to have grabbed, punched and pushed the woman to the ground twice. Police are also alleging he assaulted her a second time by further punching and kicking her.

Police arrested O’Keefe at a serviced apartment at Kent Street, and charged him with two counts of intentionally choking without consent, three counts of common assault and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was refused bail and will face Central Local Court on Friday.

As he was taken to Sydney Police Centre, an enraged O’Keefe kicked at the interior of a paddy wagon and screamed obscenities at journalists.

“F..k off, get rid of these f..king journalists, you douchebags,” he yelled.

NSW Police said a 38-year-old woman had attended a unit at Kent Street in the Sydney CBD on Tuesday afternoon to meet O’Keefe.

“A verbal argument ensued between the pair, before the man allegedly assaulted the woman – grabbing her by the throat, pushing her to the ground and punching her.

“The man allegedly assaulted the woman a second time – punching and kicking her – before she left the unit.”

Following a complaint made on Wednesday, police say the former host of The Chase was arrested at his unit at 4.30am on Thursday.

The one-time Weekend Sunrise host left Channel 7 in February last year.

His contract had expired the previous year, and there were no plans to renew it.

Andrew O’Keefe and his ex-wife got a good deal on their former North Bondi home.

O’Keefe was a familiar face at Channel 7 for 17 years and appeared on a number of different programs on the network.

He was awarded an Order of Australia medal in 2017 for “significant service to the broadcast media as a television presenter, and to social welfare and charitable organisations”.

Last winter, O’Keefe sold a four-bedroom home in North Bondi for more than $6m. He once shared the property with former wife Eleanor Campbell.

The sale price was at least $1.5m more than they had asked for a week earlier when they put the Murriverie Road property on the market.

The home, on a 470 sqm of land, was sold before a planned auction after negotiations between the agent and five interested parties.

Property records show the house was previously sold in 2007 for $1.9m.

White Ribbon, an anti-domestic violence organisation, said last year it had gone into liquidation in 2019 and that O’Keefe has had no role with the group after it relaunched in 2020.