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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Beau Lamarre-Condon’s double murder trial in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney.
Yesterday’s hearing was cut short after Justice Natalie Adams told the 15-person jury at about 12.30pm that “an issue has arisen unexpectedly”. They were told to return at 10am this morning and there was a short delay before the hearing resumed.
“These things happen in trials all the time, as you’ve probably learned by now,” the judge said.
The accused returns to the witness box today for further cross-examination by Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC.
The former NSW police officer has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder over the deaths of Jesse Baird, 26, a former TV presenter, and Luke Davies, 29, a Qantas flight attendant. There is no dispute that the men died of gunshot wounds from his police-issued pistol on February 19, 2024, and that the accused disposed of the bodies on February 22, 2024.
The Crown alleges that Lamarre-Condon planned to kill Baird after developing an obsessive and jealous infatuation with him and that he killed Davies, Baird’s boyfriend, to eliminate a witness to his crime.
The defence case is that he acted in self-defence after entering Baird’s Paddington share house dressed as an Uber Eats rider to collect some of his possessions after Baird ended their non-exclusive relationship in November 2023. He said he struck upon the idea for the disguise that morning as a way to ensure Baird did not accuse him of harassment, and he thought nobody was home.
Lamarre-Condon said he shot Baird once to disarm him after he lunged at him with a knife and a second shot through his head was accidental. He says that Davies accidentally shot himself after grabbing the gun.
The 31-year-old accused has told the court he had his police pistol with him because he had contemplated taking his own life the previous night over work-related trauma.
He has given the following evidence over three days of cross-examination:
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491, and Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Lamarre-Condon has told the court that he disposed of Jesse Baird’s phone after his death.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, put to him that he did so to “destroy evidence that might incriminate you”.
“Essentially, yes,” the accused replied.
He said that he threw the phone off Tom Uglys Bridge “near the Shire” or “one of those bridges leading into Taren Point or Sylvania”.
“It would have been on the Friday morning [February 23, 2024] or the Thursday at some point; I can’t give an exact timeframe,” he said. He said later that it may have been February 21.
“I didn’t want to have any evidence of Jesse’s phone on me,” he said. “I can’t accurately recall when I did it.” Baird and Davies died on February 19.
Hatfield put to him that he deleted iMessages with Baird as well as photos before handing himself in to police on February 23. “I disagree,” he said.
Lamarre-Condon has returned to the witness box for further cross-examination.
Justice Natalie Adams apologises to the jury for the delay as the trial continues.
Lamarre-Condon is accused of breaking into Jesse Baird’s house six months before Baird and Davies died and stealing the TV presenter’s wallet and mobile phone.
He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated break and enter, and told the court this week that Baird had invited him to stay the night.
During his cross-examination on Wednesday, Lamarre-Condon was shown a screenshot of his text messages with Baird hours before the alleged break-in on August 17, 2023.
Baird had replied that day to an earlier message from Lamarre-Condon, but had not engaged with his suggestion of a catch-up.
Justice Natalie Adams sent the jury home for the day yesterday at about 12.30pm.
Here’s what the judge told the 15-person jury.
Members of the jury … an issue has arisen unexpectedly. These things happen in trials all the time, as you’ve probably learned by now, but it’s going to take more time to resolve than was initially anticipated.
What I’m going to do is send you home for the day and court will resume at 10 o’clock tomorrow for Mr Lamarre-Condon to [return to the witness box].
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Beau Lamarre-Condon’s double murder trial in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney.
Yesterday’s hearing was cut short after Justice Natalie Adams told the 15-person jury at about 12.30pm that “an issue has arisen unexpectedly”. They were told to return at 10am this morning and there was a short delay before the hearing resumed.
