Former Sydney officer on trial for double murder claims he acted in self-defence
Former NSW police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, told a Sydney court he killed two men in self-defence, while prosecutors allege he had become obsessed with one victim and planned the killing.
The double murder trial of former New South Wales police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, has opened at the Sydney supreme court over the deaths of Jesse Baird, 26, and his partner Luke Davies, 29, at Baird's Paddington home on 19 February 2024. Lamarre-Condon faces two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter.
Prosecutors say Lamarre-Condon had become infatuated and obsessed with Baird, and began planning the murder in early 2024. Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC told the jury that Lamarre-Condon entered the house with a stolen key, shot Baird twice and shot Davies through a bedroom door. Audio played in court captured three gunshots — the first two in quick succession, the third 51 seconds later.
Defence barrister John Stratton SC argued his client acted in self-defence. He said Lamarre-Condon had entered disguised as an Uber Eats driver, wearing a motorcycle helmet to avoid being recognised while retrieving his belongings, using a key Baird had given him. Because Baird did not recognise him, a struggle broke out in which Baird was killed. The gun was then knocked across the room, Davies picked it up, and during a further struggle Davies pulled the trigger and shot himself, the defence said.
Prosecutors allege that after the killings, Lamarre-Condon began cleaning the crime scene and moving the bodies, and told a friend he had killed two people. He later bought two surfboard bags to conceal the bodies. A housemate of Baird's noticed what she thought was rust seeping from the bags in the courtyard, unaware they contained the victims. Lamarre-Condon later bought quick-set concrete and weights in a failed attempt to sink the bodies in a dam near Goulburn, before moving them to a fence line near a monastery in Bungonia, where they were found eight days later.
Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty. The trial, before Justice Natalie Adams, continues.
