Former television personality Andrew O’Keefe has avoided a criminal conviction after being caught driving with a suspended license.
The former Deal or No Deal presenter pleaded guilty to a single charge of driving with a suspended licence at Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday.
Police charged the 52-year-old man following a routine traffic stop on Victoria Rd in the upmarket Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill at around 1.30pm on June 20.
Representing himself in court, O’Keefe told Judge Michael Allen he was on his way to pick up his license when he was stopped by police that afternoon.
O’Keefe told the court his license had been revoked for failing to complete a driver’s education program he had taken the day he was pulled over.
While admitting the offence was “minor”, Judge Allen told O’Keefe that he was “no stranger to this place in recent times, even if it was for more serious offences”.
“It is serious that at the time of committing this misdemeanor you were subject to probation, and that is a factor I am obliged to take into account,” he said.
Judge Allen did not sentence O’Keefe for the offence and instead sentenced him to a 12-month conditional discharge order, a form of probation.
Andrew O’Keefe pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license in June. Photo: NewsWire / John Appleyard
Andrew O’Keefe leaves Downing Central Court after being sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge order after pleading guilty to driving with a suspended licence. Photo: NewsWire / John Appleyard
Asked outside court if he expected his life to “get better from here,” O’Keefe told reporters he “hoped it would” before saying he would return to court the next day.
This comes as the former Weekend Sunrise presenter faces charges of driving with a suspended licence and intimidation following an unrelated incident last month.
O’Keefe has yet to enter a plea, but will appear in court again on August 28 to learn his fate after appealing a series of domestic violence and drug-related offences.