A former police officer accused of murdering Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies acted in self-defence after entering Baird’s home in disguise, his defence barrister has told a court.
asserted
barrister → accuse → court
Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder over the shooting deaths of Baird, 26, his former casual romantic partner, and Davies, 29, in Paddington on February 19, 2024.
asserted
Condon → plead → February
His NSW Supreme Court criminal trial started in Sydney on Monday.
asserted
trial → start → Monday
In an opening address to the jury on Tuesday, Lamarre-Condon’s barrister, John Stratton, SC, said the defence case was that the then-senior constable went to Baird’s home on the day of the alleged double murders with his police gun to retrieve some belongings, including jewellery.
asserted
constable → open → jewellery
Lamarre-Condon wanted to collect his things “without having to go through the embarrassment of having a further meeting” with Baird after their relationship ended in November 2023, Stratton said.
asserted
Stratton → want → November
The accused had his police-issued pistol with him because “his training was that he was not allowed to leave a gun unminded in a car where it might be stolen”, the defence barrister said.
uncertain
barrister → accuse → car
The alleged struggle
The Crown said in its opening address to the jury that Lamarre-Condon should not have had his weapon with him as he was not working that day, nor the next.
asserted
he → say → him
The court was shown video on Tuesday of Lamarre-Condon arriving at Baird’s home allegedly dressed as an Uber Eats rider.
uncertain
Condon → show → rider
Lamarre-Condon expected nobody would be home, Stratton said, and “disguised himself … so he could masquerade as a delivery person if anybody unexpectedly opened the door”.
uncertain
anybody → expect → door
He let himself in when nobody answered, the defence said.
asserted
defence → let → himself
Stratton said Lamarre-Condon was surprised by Baird, who “understandably did not recognise him because he was still wearing the motorcycle helmet”.
asserted
he → say → helmet
He said the defence case was that the two men struggled and Lamarre-Condon’s police gun went off twice and fatally wounded Baird.
asserted
gun → say → Baird
In the alleged struggle, the gun was “flung into the loungeroom”, Stratton said, and the accused picked up a mobile phone and started ringing Triple Zero.
asserted
accused → allege → Triple
He encountered a second man, Luke Davies, and “Mr Davies was now holding the gun”, the defence said.
asserted
defence → encounter → gun
Stratton said Lamarre-Condon “grabbed Mr Davies by the arm and pushed the gun away from himself and towards Mr Davies”.
asserted
Condon → say → Davies
The defence said that in the struggle that followed, Davies “pulled the trigger and fatally shot himself”.
asserted
Davies → say → himself
He said later that Davies was also “holding on to a knife” when Lamarre-Condon first encountered him.
asserted
Condon → say → him
“It is very much in dispute that the accused Beau Lamarre-Condon ever planned to kill or even cause any harm to anyone [at the home],” Stratton said.
asserted
Stratton → accuse → home
“It’s his case that what he did was in self-defence.”
asserted
did → ’ → defence
Stratton said his client “understandably panicked” after the deaths.
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client → say → deaths
‘He knew this looked bad’
asserted
this → know → ?
“He was a police officer, and he knew this looked bad,” Stratton said.
asserted
Stratton → know → ?
He submitted that Lamarre-Condon’s actions after the men died – putting their bodies in surfboard bags and leaving them near a Greek monastery in Bungonia, after a failed attempt to sink the bodies in a dam – were “not the actions of a man who believed that he was guilty of murder”.
asserted
he → submit → murder
Rather, they were the actions of a man who had “panicked considerably, who knew the gravity of the situation that he was in and how it might be perceived and was overawed by it”.
uncertain
it → panic → it
He presented himself to police on February 23, Stratton said.
asserted
Stratton → present → February
The surfboard bag
The Crown has pointed to CCTV footage from a sports store in Miranda Westfield showing Lamarre-Condon buying a surfboard bag two days before the alleged murders as evidence supporting its case that the murder of Baird was premeditated.
asserted
murder → point → Baird
The prosecution case is that Lamarre-Condon resolved to kill Baird after developing an “an obsessive and jealous infatuation” with him after their casual relationship, which started in late 2022, was ended by Baird in 2023.
asserted
which → resolve → 2023
The prosecution alleges that Lamarre-Condon killed Davies, Baird’s new boyfriend, to eliminate a witness to his crime.
asserted
Condon → allege → crime
CCTV footage played in court
During his opening address, Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, showed the jury an image from CCTV footage in Baird’s street of Lamarre-Condon dressed as an Uber Eats rider.
asserted
Hatfield → play → rider
The jury was also played CCTV footage containing three audible gunshot sounds between 9.49am and 9.50am.
asserted
jury → play → 9.49am
Luke Davies’ mother, Sandra, wept as the footage was played in court.
asserted
footage → weep → court
Hatfield alleged that Lamarre-Condon penned a handwritten statement and sent it to investigators via his lawyers in June 2025, blaming his friend, known in the trial as Elizabeth Kennedy, for the attempts to hide the bodies.
asserted
Condon → allege → bodies
“At some point on Tuesday the 20th of February [2024] I contacted a person, Elizabeth, on Signal,” Lamarre-Condon wrote in the statement.
asserted
Condon → contact → statement
“I told her Jesse was dead and proceeded to tell her everything that had happened.
asserted
that → tell → everything
I asked her for advice on what to do and if I should just go to police and tell them the truth about what occurred.
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what → ask → truth
“[Kennedy] said, ‘no you can’t, they won’t believe you.
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they → say → you
I watch a lot of crime documentaries.
asserted
I → watch → documentaries
We have to hide the bodies.
asserted
We → have → bodies
I’m not free today … stay calm and call me tomorrow and we will figure it all out’,” Lamarre-Condon wrote.
asserted
Condon → ’m → it
The Crown alleges that this was a lie.
asserted
this → allege → ?
…and 54 more, not listed.
The Aporia
