O’Keefe’s plea after latest court blow

Embattled former TV personality Andrew O’Keefe has been told he is “no stranger” to the court as he faces sentencing for a driving-related offence.

The former Deal or No Deal host pleaded guilty to a single charge of driving with a suspended licence before Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday.

Police charged the 52-year-old following a routine traffic stop on Victoria Rd in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill about 1.30pm on June 20.

Representing himself in court, O’Keefe told Judge Michael Allen he was on his way to collect his licence when he was stopped by police that afternoon.

O’Keefe told the court his licence had been revoked for failing to complete a driving education program which he had done on the day he was stopped.

While admitting the offence was “more minor”, Judge Allen told O’Keefe he was “no stranger to this place in recent times, albeit for more serious offending”.

“It is serious that at the time of this more minor offence you were subject to conditional liberty, and that is a factor I’m obliged to take into account,” he said.

Judge Allen told the court he accepted O’Keefe’s explanation as “consistent with the reality of the situation”, and that his driving was not “untoward”.

The justice did not convict O’Keefe of the offence, and instead sentenced him to a 12-month conditional release order, a form of conditional liberty.

Asked outside of court if he hoped his life was “up from here”, O’Keefe told the media he “hoped so” before remarking he’d be back in court the following day.

It comes as the former Weekend Sunrise host faces charges of driving while suspended and of intimidation following an unrelated incident last month.

O’Keefe is yet to enter any pleas but will also reappear before the court on August 28 to learn his fate after appealing a string of DV and drug-related offences.