Beau Lamarre-Condon was captured on CCTV returning to the alleged crime scene hours after he is accused of murdering former Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, a court has heard.
asserted
court → capture → Baird
The footage was released by the NSW Supreme Court after it was played in the former police officer’s trial over the shooting deaths of Baird, 26, a former TV presenter, and Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies, 29.
asserted
it → release → Baird
The police compilation of CCTV evidence from February 19, 2024, the day of the alleged murders, shows a figure in dark clothing outside Baird’s home at about 11pm, more than 12 hours after he died.
asserted
he → allege → pm
According to the Crown, the man in the video is Lamarre-Condon.
uncertain
man → accord → video
At that time, the court has heard, the bodies of Baird and Davies were in the courtyard of the Paddington terrace in surfboard bags.
asserted
bodies → hear → bags
The accused is shown earlier in the day hiring a white van that was used to transport the men’s bodies from the home and paying cash for a surfboard bag.
asserted
that → accuse → bag
At 2.08pm on February 19, Lamarre-Condon allegedly visited Bunnings in Alexandria and spent $146.40 in cash on a bucket mop wringer, disposable gloves, microfibre cloths, bleach and garbage bags, among other items.
uncertain
Condon → visit → items
Footage from Bunnings was no longer available by the time the transactions were identified, the court has heard, but a copy of the receipt was tendered in evidence.
asserted
copy → identify → evidence
The 15-person jury heard on Wednesday that a friend of Lamarre-Condon, dubbed Elizabeth Kennedy in the proceedings, said in a statement to police on February 23, 2024, that she had driven with the accused to Goulburn in a van on February 21.
asserted
she → hear → February
Kennedy said she paid for an angle grinder at Bunnings Goulburn and the accused cut a padlock off the gate of a nearby farm.
asserted
accused → say → farm
Her information triggered a days-long police search for the men’s bodies, including at a rural property where Lamarre-Condon tried unsuccessfully to sink the bodies in a dam.
asserted
Condon → trigger → dam
Homicide squad Detective Senior Constable Christine Abela testified on Wednesday that the men’s bodies were eventually found outside a Greek monastery on February 27.
asserted
bodies → testify → February
The prosecution case is that Lamarre-Condon planned to kill Baird, a former Network Ten producer and presenter, after developing an “obsessive and jealous infatuation” with him that escalated when Baird ended their casual relationship in November 2023.
asserted
Baird → plan → November
He allegedly killed Baird to eliminate a witness to his crime.
uncertain
He → kill → crime
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.
asserted
He → plead → murder
The defence does not dispute that the accused was at Baird’s home when the men died of gunshot wounds from his police-issued pistol and that he disposed of their bodies.
asserted
he → dispute → bodies
However, it says the deaths were accidental and Lamarre-Condon acted in self-defence.
asserted
Condon → say → defence
The court has heard Lamarre-Condon visited a sports store in Westfield Miranda to buy a surfboard bag for $85 in cash about three hours after the alleged murders.
asserted
Condon → hear → murders
He had bought an identical surfboard bag from the same store two days earlier.
asserted
He → buy → store
The Crown says the accused bought a further two bags on February 21 after he discovered the first two covers were not big enough to dispose of the men’s bodies.
asserted
covers → say → bodies
The jury was told the compilation of CCTV footage from February 19 bore some incorrect timestamps on the screen.
asserted
compilation → tell → screen
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, said Lamarre-Condon had returned to Baird’s home at about 11pm rather than 10pm as shown in the footage.
asserted
Condon → say → footage
Former NSW police officer Ben Higginson told the court on Friday that he had a conversation with Lamarre-Condon on February 18, the day before the alleged murders, about criminal investigation techniques, and had told him “it can be a bit more difficult to trace cash”.
asserted
it → tell → cash
Higginson said they had also discussed the 2023 murder of Sydneysider Lilie James, who was killed by her ex-boyfriend Paul Thijssen.
asserted
who → say → boyfriend
Higginson said Lamarre-Condon seemed “pretty blase” in the conversation and had said Thijssen was “stupid for doing this on CCTV”.
asserted
Thijssen → say → CCTV
Higginson said in a statement that he did not regard the conversation between police officers as unusual at the time.
asserted
he → say → time
The accused allegedly used his police-issued Glock pistol to shoot both men in Baird’s share house on the morning of February 19, and cleaned the home while the journalist’s flatmates were out.
uncertain
flatmates → accuse → home
CCTV footage played in his trial captures Lamarre-Condon buying the first surfboard bag with a friend two days before the alleged murders.
asserted
Condon → play → murders
The friend is not accused of wrongdoing.
asserted
friend → accuse → wrongdoing
The Crown alleges the first bag was bought as part of the accused’s plan to murder Baird.
asserted
bag → allege → Baird
The Crown has foreshadowed that the court will hear evidence that Lamarre-Condon asked the friend who accompanied him on the first shopping trip whether he would fit inside the surfboard bag.
asserted
he → foreshadow → bag
The accused appears to hold the bag up against his friend in the CCTV footage.
asserted
accused → accuse → footage
The friend allegedly replied “probably not”, according to the prosecution’s opening address to the jury, and the accused said: “I’ll grab this one instead, it should be big enough.”
uncertain
it → reply → one
According to both the Crown and the defence, Lamarre-Condon was disguised as a delivery rider and had his police-issued gun with him when he entered Baird’s home.
uncertain
he → accord → home
He cleaned the house after the men died and disposed of their bodies in two layers of surfboard bags.
asserted
men → clean → bags
However, the defence case is that Lamarre-Condon went to the Paddington home to pick up some of his belongings and did not expect anybody to be there.
asserted
anybody → go → belongings
A struggle ensued in which his gun accidentally went off twice, killing Baird, and Davies accidentally shot himself in a second struggle, the defence says.
asserted
defence → ensue → struggle
The accused’s barrister, John Stratton, SC, told the jury in his opening address that Lamarre-Condon had his gun with him because he had been trained not to leave it unattended in his vehicle.
asserted
he → accuse → vehicle
However, the Crown case is that he should not have been carrying the weapon because he was not rostered on to work.
asserted
he → carry → work
Stratton said Lamarre-Condon dumped the bodies because he “panicked considerably”.
asserted
he → say → bodies
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
