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Jesse Baird’s housemate did not know surfboard bags contained bodies when she took photo, court hears

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Wong, K. (2026, October 1). Jesse Baird’s housemate did not know surfboard bags contained bodies when she took photo, court hears. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/01/beau-lamarre-condon-murder-trial-jesse-baird-housemate-sufboard-bags-photo-ntwnfb

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-10-01 · by Kat Wong

Quick Summary

In a Sydney court, Jesse Baird’s housemate testified that she unknowingly took a photo of surfboard bags containing the bodies of Baird and his partner after their alleged murders by Beau Lamarre-Condon on February 19, 2024. The housemate, referred to as Belinda Smith, believed the red liquid covering the bags was rusted water from outdoor furniture when she saw it in her courtyard on February 20th. This testimony is part of ongoing legal proceedings where Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to murder and aggravated break and enter charges.
Written by AI on 2026-10-02, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The trial of former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon began in Sydney's Supreme Court on September 20, 2026, over the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies. Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of domestic violence-related murder and one count of aggravated break and enter. Prosecutors allege that Lamarre-Condon used his police-issued firearm to shoot the couple inside Baird's home in Paddington on February 19, 2024. The victims' bodies were later found hidden in surfboard bags about 200km away. Text messages from Baird’s phone sent hours after the alleged murders confused housemates into thinking he was still alive and planning to move out of the home the following day. The trial is expected to last three months, with a jury of 15 members selected to hear the case. Witnesses have testified about discoveries made at the crime scene before it was officially declared so by authorities.

Written for “Beau Lamarre-Condon Double Murder Trial” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 28 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Beau Lamarre-Condon Double Murder Trial
Crime & Law · 29 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 9% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 5 of 35 claims Outlet record 61/100
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 2 of 36 claims Outlet record 68/100
“The articles describe different parts of a broader case: one covers testimony about a conversation suggesting knowledge or planning before murders, while the other discusses evidence regarding photos taken after the alleged murders.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 2 of 33 claims Outlet record 61/100
“The articles describe different aspects of the same trial but distinct events: one involves a message sent to fake a cancer diagnosis, while the other concerns testimony about not knowing surfboard bags contained bodies.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 0 of 19 claims Outlet record 61/100
“The articles describe different aspects of the same broader incident but report on distinct events: one focuses on evidence at the crime scene, while the other involves testimony about a housemate's actions.”
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 6 of 48 claims Outlet record 68/100
“The articles describe different parts of the ongoing court proceedings related to Beau Lamarre-Condon's case but do not refer to the same specific incident.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 2 of 41 claims Outlet record 61/100
“The articles describe different aspects of the trial for Beau Lamarre-Condon's alleged murder of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, but they do not describe the same specific incident occurring at the same time.”
Daily Mail
Hedges 3 of 9 claims Outlet record 69/100
“Article A describes Beau Lamarre-Condon buying a surfboard cover at Decathlon, while Article B discusses testimony in court about a housemate taking a photo of surfboard covers without knowing they contained bodies. Although both relate to the same case, they describe different specific incidents.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 3 of 20 claims Outlet record 61/100
“The articles describe different aspects of the trial for the same murder case but do not refer to the same specific incident.”
The Guardian
Hedges 3 of 16 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles describe different aspects of the trial related to the same murder case but report distinct incidents or testimonies.”
The Guardian
Hedges 1 of 13 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles describe different aspects of the trial: one focuses on a greenkeeper finding bloody belongings in a dumpster, while the other involves Baird's housemate taking a photo of surfboard bags containing the victims' bodies.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
23
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
9%
2 of 23 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
29
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-01 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 2889 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Kat Wong
23 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 “We have a responsibility not to engage in binary thinking, not to engage in the language of violence, [but] to rebuild trust by building financial security in a time of deep insecurity,” Ardern said during a forum with the author Anna Funder. “There are things we could be doing but, right now, we’re making it worse, not better.”
🔮 In question time in early September, the prime minister told the house the money would go toward “an environmental project stopping raw sewage going into the Cooks River during flooding”.
🔮 The Victorian Greens will today announce an election commitment to establish a lobbyist register and ban political donations from “big corporate money”.
🔮 What you tend to see online is the people who are there, anonymously, will just do and say anything.
🔮 During the early hours of 22 February 2024, Lamarre-Condon is captured by the cameras at McDonald’s Sutton Forest, about 30km from where he would allegedly dispose of Baird and Davies’ bodies.
🔮 Every time she asked how much further, he would respond, “just 50 more minutes”.
🔮 Beau Lamarre-Condon’s alleged attempt to dispose of two bodies was briefly interrupted so he could undergo surgery, a Sydney court has been told.
🔮 Now the secretary general for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Cormann will deliver an address to the Centre for Independent Studies on Saturday night spruiking productivity as the only way to reliably lower the cost of living over the long term.
🔮 Beau Lamarre-Condon asked a friend in Western Australia if he could post her a phone to be thrown into a body of water, and told her he’d been “set up” over the disappearance of two men, a court has heard.
Also by Kat Wong
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 23 articles by Kat Wong →

Topics

Bungonia Paddington Perth

Subjects

Baird PERSON · 14× Smith PERSON · 7× Davies PERSON · 3× Beau Lamarre-Condon PERSON · 1× Belinda Smith PERSON · 1× Brett Hatfield SC PERSON · 1× Jesse Baird’s PERSON · 1× Luke Davies PERSON · 1× Paddington GPE · 1× Sarah King PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Baird’s housemate, known to the court under the pseudonym Belinda Smith, said she returned home from work on the evening after the shootings and went out to the courtyard to check on her washing after a day of heavy rain.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-01
🔮 In early 2024, relations had soured between Baird and his two housemates after they asked him to move out so one of their friends could take their spot.

Claims (23 extracted, 2 hedged)

Jesse Baird’s housemate didn’t know she was looking at bags with Baird and his partner’s dead bodies, when she took a photo of oozing surfboard covers the night of their alleged murders, a court has heard. asserted
court → know → murders
Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, has been accused of fatally shooting Baird and Luke Davies with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024. asserted
Condon → accuse → February
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter. asserted
He → plead → break
Baird’s housemate, known to the court under the pseudonym Belinda Smith, said she returned home from work on the evening after the shootings and went out to the courtyard to check on her washing after a day of heavy rain. asserted
she → know → rain
There, she saw “two surfboard bags with a blue tarp over the top of them and red liquid”, she told the trial on Thursday. asserted
she → see → Thursday
Smith took a photo of the liquid and sent it to their other housemate, known to the court under the pseudonym Sarah King. asserted
Smith → take → pseudonym
The photo was shown to the jury on Thursday. asserted
photo → show → Thursday
Asked what she thought the liquid was, Smith told the court she believed it was “rusted water from the outdoor furniture”. asserted
it → ask → furniture
Asked by crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC if Baird had ever spoken to her about surfing or if she had seen a surfboard in their house, she confirmed she had not. asserted
she → ask → house
“You had no reason to suspect there was anything else in those surfboard bags?” he asked. asserted
he → have → bags
Smith responded: “no”. asserted
Smith → respond → ?
In early 2024, relations had soured between Baird and his two housemates after they asked him to move out so one of their friends could take their spot. uncertain
one → sour → spot
Baird eventually agreed and told their house group chat he would be moving out on 20 February 2024 Baird and Davies were fatally shot on 19 February. asserted
Baird → agree → February
But when Smith left for work on the morning of the 20th and saw Baird’s belongings had not been packed up, Smith sent a message to King that read: “I’m genuinely scared this dude isn’t moving out today”. asserted
dude → leave → King
A message was then sent from Baird’s phone to their housemate group chat claiming he had hired someone to collect his things and that he “might be doing a road trip to Perth with my mates”. uncertain
he → send → mates
Smith responded she was “confused” and asked him to have his room emptied because cleaners would be arriving the following day. asserted
cleaners → respond → him
A response from Baird’s phone asked what time the cleaners had been booked. asserted
cleaners → ask → time
Afterwards, a number of Baird’s items were removed from his room. asserted
number → remove → room
By 22 February, the surfboards had been cleared and the liquid was gone, Smith told the court. asserted
Smith → clear → court
Baird and Davies’ bodies were eventually found in two surfboard bags five days later on the fence line of a rural monastery in Bungonia. asserted
bodies → find → Bungonia
The defence lawyer John Stratton SC said during his opening statement that Baird and Davies were fatally shot in “self-defence” after struggles with the policeman. asserted
Baird → say → policeman
Lamarre-Condon immediately began cleaning up the scene because he “panicked”, the jury was told. asserted
jury → begin → scene
The trial before Justice Natalie Adams continues. asserted
trial → continue → Adams
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