Former Channel 7 star Andrew O’Keefe to make fresh bid for freedom

Former television presenter Andrew O’Keefe will next month make a fresh bid for freedom as he fights allegations he choked and assaulted a woman.

Mr O’Keefe appeared via AVL from prison on Friday morning as Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court was told he was set to make a Supreme Court bail application next month.

“I can hear you, Your Honour,” he said as he appeared from prison.

The besieged former Channel 7 personality was previously refused bail after he was arrested for the alleged assault of a woman at his Sydney CBD apartment on January 25.

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Andrew O'Keefe will make a Supreme Court bail application next month. Tim Hunter. Credit: News Corp Australia

Police have alleged that he choked, punched and kicked the 38-year-old woman, who cannot be identified due to court orders, after she went to his Kent St unit for a business meeting.

Solicitor Sharon Ramsden told magistrate Erin Kennedy that Mr O’Keefe would appear before the Supreme Court on March 8 for a bail hearing and asked for the matter to be adjourned.

He was charged with three counts of coxjmtzywmmon assault, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of intentionally choking without consent

He’s also facing separate charges of breaching an AVO, relating to a woman who cannot be named for legal reasons and an incident that occurred last year.

Mr O’Keefe has previously pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge after officers found 1.5g of marijuana in his apartment.

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A police car transporting Andrew O'Keefe leaves Day Street Police Station following his arrest in January. Credit: Supplied

However, his lawyer previously flagged his intention to plead not guilty to all other charges.

Following his arrest in January, Mr O’Keefe yelled obscenities and that he was a “victim of crime” to journalists as he was driven away from Day Street Police Station.

Mr O’Keefe was a star at Seven for 17 years and appeared on several programs on the network, including The Chase and Weekend Sunrise.

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”.

He was an ambassador for White Ribbon, an anti-domestic violence organisation.

White Ribbon went into liquidation in 2019 and said Mr O’Keefe had had no role with the group after it relaunched in 2020.