Alleged murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon took the witness box on Thursday, describing fleeing at night after being caught with the mobile phone of a love interest he later killed.
The 31-year-old is accused of fatally shooting couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter.
He is expected to give his account of how Baird and Davies were shot and killed in their urban terrace.
As the only witness to the deaths, the former police officer has denied entering their Sydney home in February 2024 with an intention to kill.
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He was asked about an incident in August 2023 in which Baird woke at night to find Lamarre-Condon in his darkened bedroom with his phone and wallet.
The 31-year-old told defence barrister John Stratton he had been invited over and a key to the home had been left in the letterbox.
He claimed he wanted to go in and check Baird's phone to see if he had been chatting to other men.
The pair had broken up in April after the television presenter admitted he did not want a long-term relationship, unlike Lamarre-Condon, the jury heard.
After Baird woke up, Lamarre-Condon said he panicked and ran, throwing the phone and wallet behind him as Baird chased him down the street.
"It was stupid and I admit it was stupid," he told the court.
Baird did not know it was him, and the pair recommenced a sexual relationship soon after, the jury heard.
Lamarre-Condon also denied he had gone to a Sydney hotel in May 2023 and used his police authority to view CCTV of Baird there with another man.
He claimed he had been invited to the hotel by Baird and only viewed the CCTV footage after being told by another officer that there had been a possible assault.
"Detective Beau's on the case, spotted you," he texted Baird after sending him footage of the pair in the pub.
However, he said Baird laughed it off as a joke.
Lamarre-Condon began his testimony by being asked about trauma he experienced as a police officer.
He described seeing a man shot in the head with a shotgun, an Uber Eats driver who had his head run over by a truck, and a man pushed from his balcony to be impaled by a metal pole.
His voice started cracking as he described a male police officer who died by suicide at Surry Hills police station.
He also recounted bullying at the hands of his superior officers, including one who said police should be able to push gays off cliffs like in the old days.
On October 2023, he described trying to end his own life in a Sydney national park but ended up walking away after it was unsuccessful.
The 31-year-old described meeting Baird in October 2022 and said they started dating in December that year.
Lamarre-Condon is set to allege he entered the terrace disguised as an Uber Eats driver and carrying his police-issued firearm in February 2024 to retrieve his belongings.
He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder, claiming the men were killed in self-defence.
Prosecutors allege Lamarre-Condon killed Baird "execution-style" at close range through a plan borne of a jealous obsession, before shooting Baird's new partner Davies to eliminate a witness.
Days after their deaths, he led police to a rural monastery where the bodies of the two men, both aged in their 20s, were found in surfboard bags.
