Troubled TV host Andrew O’Keefe to plead GUILTY to assaulting his doctor girlfriend if bid to have his case dealt as a mental health issue fails – as he remains in hospital
- Andrew O’Keefe wants assault charges dealt with under mental health act
- His lawyer indicated he will plead guilty if the court agrees to the request
- Seven star is accused of assaulting his girlfriend Dr Orly Lavee
- The Chase host was arrested about 3.30am in the morning and charged
- O’Keefe was released on bail – only for police, ambulance to be called hours later
- For confidential crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14
Troubled TV star Andrew O’Keefe will seek to have a charge that he assaulted his doctor girlfriend dealt with under mental health provisions rather than criminal law.
O’Keefe has been an involuntary in-patient at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital since the alleged attack and was excused from attending court yesterday.
A lawyer for O’Keefe said if an application to have the matter dealt with under Section 32 of the Mental Health Act was unsuccessful he would be pleading guilty.
The lawyer said some of the facts about what happened between the ousted host of The Chase and his girlfriend were still in dispute.
O’Keefe has been an in-patient at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital since the alleged attack and was excused from attending court yesterday. A lawyer for O’Keefe said if an application to have the matter dealt with under Section 32 of the Mental Health Act was unsuccessful he would be pleading guilty
O’Keefe is accused of assaulting his partner of two years, haemotologist Orly Lavee in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on January.
Police allege O’Keefe assaulted Dr Lavee at her Randwick apartment between 11pm and 11.30pm.
He was arrested in a nearby street about 3.30am and charged at 9.41am at Maroubra police station.
O’Keefe was later reportedly admitted to hospital and has subsequently been treated in a mental health facility.
The 49-year-old did not appear when the matter was first mentioned at Waverley Local Court earlier this month.
O’Keefe’s defence lawyer Claudette Chua (centre) made a statement to media outside court during the last hearing
On that occasion solicitor Claudette Chua said outside court O’Keefe had not been the aggressor in the incident with Dr Lavee.
‘I have had the opportunity to review the facts of the matter and I will say this: Mr O’Keefe certainly was not the aggressor in this situation and Dr Lavee will have a lot to answer for,’ Ms Chua said.
Friends of Dr Lavee said she was devastated by those comments.
O’Keefe has checking into rehab on several occasions recently and was forced to take a break from The Chase after suffering ’emotional exhaustion’.
The former Weekend Sunrise host and his wife Eleanor divorced in 2019 and he made headlines that year for swatting a photographer away with a folder.
Dr Orly Lavee was allegedly assaulted between 11pm and 11.30pm on Saturday evening
But he found a new lover in haemotologist Dr Lavee last year and at one point said he was in a ‘good place’.
Seven confirmed this week that his The Chase contract wasn’t renewed at the end of last year and O’Keefe is ‘no longer with the network’.
The former intellectual property lawyer is perhaps best known as the host of former hit Deal or No Deal.
He is the son of NSW Supreme Court Justice Barry O’Keefe and nephew of rock star Johnny O’Keefe.
He will return to court in April.
For confidential crisis support, call: Lifeline on 13 11 14. For domestic violence support, call 1800 RESPECT. Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467