Former Channel Seven star Andrew O’Keefe has had two domestic violence charges dismissed and a third withdrawn by police after a magistrate found he was in a hypomanic bipolar state when he spat at his partner, slapped her and kicked her in Sydney’s east earlier this year.
Mr O’Keefe, 49, the former host of Weekend Sunrise and The Chase Australia, had been at a party in Surry Hills with his partner Orly Lavee on the evening of January 30 when they got into a disagreement and left because she accused him of having an ice pipe in his pocket, which he denied.
Andrew O’Keefe leaves Waverley Local Court.Credit:Georgina Mitchell
According to facts read out in court on Friday, the pair left the event and returned to their home at Randwick, where they started arguing and Dr Lavee told him to leave the home and never come back.
After Mr O’Keefe packed his belongings, he asked Dr Lavee to call him an Uber because he did not have enough money, but she told him to walk. The pair then exchanged heated comments, including Mr O’Keefe shouting “you are cruel and heartless” and Dr Lavee yelling back “get out, I hate you”.
Mr O’Keefe threw a pillow at Dr Lavee and she told him their relationship “meant nothing to me”.
“That’s a real spit in the face,” Mr O’Keefe responded, before spitting in her face.
As their altercation continued, Dr Lavee ripped buttons off Mr O’Keefe’s shirt and threatened to tell the media that he was a “junkie” and “abuser” who had extramarital affairs, which he denied.
Mr O’Keefe pushed her into a bookcase, grabbed her breast, and called her a “lying c---” and “stupid cow”. As the pair grappled for his phone, Mr O’Keefe kicked Dr Lavee in the buttocks and pushed her to the floor, causing her to hit her head.
Police were called and Mr O’Keefe was taken to hospital, where he was sectioned as an involuntary mental health patient. He was also arrested and charged with two counts of common assault and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
On Friday, Magistrate Ross Hudson dismissed two of the charges on mental health grounds after a hearing at Waverley Local Court was told that Mr O’Keefe had spent long periods as a mental health inpatient since the incident, both voluntarily and involuntarily.
Police prosecutor Matthew Wade withdrew a third charge, which related to an alleged assault at Kangaroo Valley.
Sergeant Wade argued the remaining assault charges should not be dismissed, describing Mr O’Keefe’s actions that evening as a “serious offence” which left Dr Lavee with swelling, a small laceration to her lip, and an abrasion to her back.
“There was two instances of assault here: there was the earlier assault which was the spitting, and then later on the same night there was the slapping, then a kick, then a push to the ground,” Sergeant Wade said.
“We’re not dealing with one instance of conduct here.”
Mr O’Keefe’s barrister Troy Edwards conceded the community is “sick and tired of offences of violence, particularly offences against women”, but said Mr O’Keefe was not a suitable vehicle for harsh punishment because the assaults arose from a hypomanic bipolar episode.
Mr Edwards said Mr O’Keefe has received an “extraordinary amount” of intensive treatment over the past six months, and the injury to Dr Lavee “is perhaps less than some other cases of assault occasioning actual bodily harm”.
Expert reports tendered to the court from experienced psychiatrists and psychologists said Mr O’Keefe lives with severe bipolar disorder and a substance use disorder.
Magistrate Hudson said domestic violence is “offending which the community will not tolerate”, but in this situation “powerful” evidence demonstrated a link between Mr O’Keefe’s mental health and the assaults.
He dismissed the two assault charges and ordered Mr O’Keefe to continue his intensive regime of mental health treatment for the next six months, as well as abstaining from illicit drugs and alcohol. The magistrate also put in a place an Apprehended Domestic Violence Order for 12 months.
Magistrate Hudson asked Mr O’Keefe to stand up and addressed him directly, telling him he would have to address his “significant” mental health issues for the rest of his life, which is much longer than the six months the court has the power to order.
“These are matters where there’s no magic bullet or magic pill – there’s no light switch to turn off mental illness,” Magistrate Hudson said. “It’s not a label, it’s not a weakness, it’s part of your fabric.”
Magistrate Hudson said the community’s expectations for Mr O’Keefe to not repeat similar behaviour in the future were high, “and they should be”.
Speaking as he left court, Mr O’Keefe said he agreed with everything the magistrate said “about the need to protect the community, and women in particular, from domestic violence”. He said it was a “shame” he ended up in this position.
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Georgina Mitchell is a court reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2021-06-25 04:18:44Z
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