Troubled TV star Andrew O’Keefe is expected to enter drug rehab in a desperate bid to turn his life around after being arrested and charged following a near-fatal heroin overdose.
Lawyers for the 53-year-old man told Waverley Local Court on Thursday that he intends to plead guilty to one count of drug possession, as well as separate charges of breaking and entering and failing to comply with a court order relating to an incident that occurred in July.
Prosecutors agreed to drop an additional charge of intimidation on condition they plead guilty, the court was told.
O’Keefe appeared in court via video link from jail.
Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge agreed with his lawyers’ proposal that he enter a three-month rehabilitation programme, adding that this should happen as soon as possible.
“Your life has been completely derailed,” he told O’Keefe.
“The only person who will make your life different will be you.”
In a heartfelt appeal to the former TV star, Milledge said the general public saw the “pathos” of his situation and wanted him to succeed.
Andrew O’Keefe appeared in court via video link after a near-fatal heroin overdose. Image: NewsWire/Max Mason-Hubers
Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge told Andrew O’Keefe he was the only person who could make his life different
“No one says ‘isn’t he a monster,'” he said.
“Everyone says, ‘Isn’t that a shame?'”
Milledge noted that domestic violence had been an element of O’Keefe’s offending, which he described as particularly horrific given his previous role as an ambassador for the advocacy group White Ribbon.
“I really think in those days you believed it,” he said.
O’Keefe’s attorney, Jahan Kalantar, said his client was at a crossroads, with one path leading to institutionalized behavior and the other to putting his life back together.
“The option, we say, is a real opportunity for this man to put his life in order,” he said.
The former game show host had his bail revoked in September, days after suffering a reported overdose.
Emergency services responded to an incident at a home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, after which police searched a nearby car and found methamphetamine in its possession.
The former TV star was on bail at the time after allegedly breaching an AVO, trespassing and intimidating a man in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in July.
O’Keefe was a Seven presenter for more than 15 years, most notably presenting game show Deal or No Deal and breakfast show Weekend Sunrise.
He was found guilty of domestic violence offenses in January and his appeal was dismissed in early September.
An appeal against further drug possession charges was upheld and the conviction overturned.
The court is due to sentence O’Keefe later on Thursday.
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