Last week, Beau Lamarre-Condon was cross-examined and insisted he had not gone to Jesse Baird’s home intending to kill him.
He told the court that when he deliberately fired the first shot, his only aim was to make Baird drop the knife he was allegedly holding in his right hand, preventing him from stabbing Lamarre-Condon in the throat.
“Did you intend to kill him when you fired that shot?” Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC asked.
“No,” Lamarre-Condon replied. He said that was why he aimed at Baird’s right shoulder rather than the centre of his body, explaining that officers were trained to target the centre mass when intending to kill.
“I did not want to kill Jesse, and that was a very, very clear thought that I remember to this day,” he said.
“Shoot him in the shoulder so you don’t kill him. So he drops the knife.”
Lamarre-Condon maintained that Baird had slashed him with a knife during a struggle.
“It did cut my body slightly. It was just a slash wound; slash wounds don’t scar,” he said.
Mr Hatfield asked whether he had pointed out the injury to police during the forensic examination carried out after his arrest.
“I maintained my legal right to silence,” Lamarre-Condon replied.
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He said he had hoped the first shot would stop what he described as Baird’s attack.
He also denied shooting Baird in the back.
“I did not shoot Jesse Baird in the back. That is not accurate. That’s not the truth,” he told the court.
Mr Hatfield then asked whether he had shot Baird in the mouth or face.
Lamarre-Condon said he had not deliberately shot him in those areas and was unaware that a bullet had first struck there before hitting Baird in the right trapezius region. He said the incident unfolded rapidly amid significant movement.
Mr Hatfield suggested that shooting Baird “wasn’t necessary”.
Lamarre-Condon replied that he stood by his account of the first shot.
“I’ve had lots and lots of time to reflect on this—the first shot was intentional, the second shot was not,” he said.
He acknowledged that Baird had done nothing to deserve being killed.
“Jesse did not deserve anything like that to happen to him,” he said.
