Disgraced TV star Andrew O’Keefe was spotted picking up a woman in his car in Sydney on Wednesday – and now her identity has been revealed.
In an unlikely twist, the woman has been confirmed as high-society family member Elisha Dalah, 35, who was famously caught stealing from Westfield shopping centre in 2022.
Former Deal Or No Deal host O’Keefe, 52, was seen chatting with Dalah while collecting her from the upmarket suburb of Point Piper.
The sighting came days after he failed to convince a court a woman lied about being assaulted by him and his convictions for domestic violence assault were upheld.
Dalah, 36, is the elder sibling of Fishbowl restaurateur Nathan Dalah and sister-in-law of Victoria’s Secret model Georgia Fowler, while she is also the daughter of former Elizabeth Bay Marina co-owner Michael Dalah and his wife Michelle.
Dalah is believed to live in her parents palatial waterfront mansion in the exclusive neighbourhood Point Piper.
While the nature of their relationship is not known, the pair were seen engaging in friendly conversation as she got into the passenger seat beside O’Keefe.
O’Keefe had an unlit cigarette in his mouth and appeared sombre as he gazed into the distance while waiting for Dalah to arrive.
Disgraced TV star Andrew O’Keefe was spotted picking up a woman in his car in Sydney on Wednesday – and now her identity has been revealed
In an unlikely twist, the woman has been confirmed as high-society family member Elisha Dalah, 35, who was famously caught stealing from Westfield shopping centre in 2022. Former Deal Or No Deal host O’Keefe, 52, was seen chatting with Dalah while collecting her from the upmarket suburb of Point Piper on Wednesday
Dalah sported a striped T-shirt and carried a takeaway coffee upon her arrival and chatted with O’Keefe as she got into the vehicle.
In May last year, Dalah narrowly avoided jail after being caught stealing luxury face creams and designer clothing from a Westfield shopping centre.
At the time, Waverley Local Court heard the mother-of-one used a ‘de-tagger’ to steal a $249 Tommy Hilfiger jumper and a $170 ‘Youth Lift’ face cream from Sephora at Westfield Bondi Junction on July 14, 2022.
Plain clothes police officers observed her leaving Tommy Hilfiger and stealing the cream before arresting her and charging her with shoplifting, and breaching her ban on entering the shopping centre.
Dalah had only recently finished a parole term for other shoplifting offenses when she was arrested.
‘I’m sorry, I have a problem, can I pay for the items now… I don’t know why I steal, I don’t need to steal, I work, I just can’t help myself,’ she told police, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The court heard she had been sober for eight months, attended rehab twice, continues to engage in substance abuse counselling and had not offended since being charged.
In May last year, Dalah (pictured) narrowly avoided jail after being caught stealing luxury face creams and designer clothing from a Westfield shopping centre
Dalah is the daughter of ex-Elizabeth Bay Marina co-owner Michael Dalah and his wife Michelle and is believed to live at her parents’ Point Piper mansion (she is pictured with her son)
She began using drugs at the age of 14 and had shot up heroin after learning of her former partner’s cancer diagnosis before the thefts.
Magistrate Milledge said in a brutally frank sentencing: ‘Everything I’ve read suggests you see yourself as a victim – you are not a victim.
‘You’ve said ”I’m a kleptomaniac, I act on impulse” – you are calculating and manipulative and deceitful, and your family knows that because they have been dealing with that side of you for years and years and years.’
Dalah was sentenced to a 20-month intensive correction order and 200 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay a $500 fine entering Westfield Bondi Junction while banned.
Dalah was last known to be working as a barista at her family-owned business Laissez-Faire Catering in Sydney’s Alexandria.
O’Keefe’s sighting with Dalah also came just days after a court upheld his convictions for domestic violence assault on Monday.
District Court Judge John Pickering rejected his lawyers’ arguments that the woman had inflicted scratch marks on her own arm and later blamed O’Keefe.
However, the judge overturned other charges for drug possession after finding it could not be proven items found in a lock box in O’Keefe’s apartment belonged to him.
Dalah, 36, is the elder sibling of Fishbowl restaurateur Nathan Dalah (right) and sister-in-law of Victoria’s Secret model Georgia Fowler (left)
The troubled former TV star was convicted in January of three counts of domestic violence-related assault, twice contravening an AVO against him, and two charges for possessing a prohibited drug.
He was ordered to serve 18 months on a community corrections order, which involves supervision and reporting requirements, and fined $800 for the drug offences.
During an assault in September 2021, O’Keefe was found to have pushed the woman into a doorway, punched her with the heel of the hand and forced her to the ground, before kicking her in the thigh and using his nails to scratch her chest.
But O’Keefe’s barrister Phillip Boulten SC said the woman’s claim she scratched her hand on a hinge after being pushed through the doorway was not supported by physical evidence.
Boulten said if the woman was found not to have been truthful about the scratch marks on her arm, the entirety of her evidence should not be accepted.
Judge Pickering told the court he did not see any reason for the woman to lie about the assault, and noted at the time she had indicated she did not want to make a complaint to police.
‘It was clear in her communication with the police that she did not actually want the police to get involved in this,’ he said.
‘I do not see what benefit there was to the complainant. I am satisfied the complainant was a truthful witness about this incident.’
The sighting came days after O’Keefe (pictured) failed to convince a court a woman lied about being assaulted by him and his convictions for domestic violence assault were upheld
As the judgement was read in court, O’Keefe shook his head in frustrated disagreement and passed written notes to his lawyer.
O’Keefe has admitted the argument occurred, but maintains he accidentally fell into the woman due to their proximity rather than pushing her.
The woman alleged that after she fell, O’Keefe had said to her: ‘Nice acting, I barely touched you.’
Judge Pickering found it was open to the court in initially convicting O’Keefe to use an earlier incident in January 2021, in which O’Keefe admitted spitting in the same woman’s eye, to help establish who was telling the truth.
‘The majority of males in our community do not act in this fashion,’ he said.
O’Keefe has previously hosted Weekend Sunrise, the Today show, and a number of game shows including The Chase until his contract with the Seven Network expired at the end of 2020, when he was replaced by Larry Emdur.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk