On Thursday, Beau Lamarre-Condon faced questions about a 1,600-word message he sent to Jesse Baird through the Instagram account of a female friend. In the message, he claimed he had cancer and might need to have an arm amputated.
The court heard the message had been written to appear as though it came from Lamarre-Condon’s friend.
At the time, Baird and Lamarre-Condon had ended their relationship. Baird had blocked him on Instagram and asked that they have no further contact.
The court had previously heard there was no evidence that Lamarre-Condon had cancer.
He was asked whether any of the cancer-related claims contained in the lengthy message were accurate.
Lamarre-Condon replied: ‘There are certain aspects of this message that are not true … but there are aspects to it that are true.’
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC responded: ‘Why don’t you point out the parts of the message that are true, that might be shorter.’
Lamarre-Condon said he had visited a naturopathic doctor in either October or November.
Mr Hatfield interrupted, asking: ‘Where is that in the message? You’re pointing to the parts of the message that are true?’
After falling silent to read through the message, Lamarre-Condon referred to a claim about a tumour on his left shoulder. He said he had been told it was growing and represented a sporadic form of cancer.
He said he visited the naturopath because he wanted medication containing ‘traces of magic mushroom’ to treat PTSD, but did not provide his Medicare card during the appointment.
‘I then asked about a lump near my AC joint, I thought it was a cyst, but she believed it was a sporadic form of cancer and told me exactly what it was,’ he claimed.
Lamarre-Condon said the naturopath had explained that some people undergo arm amputations, but had not told him that he would definitely need to lose his arm.
He told the court he began treating what he described as the condition with plant-based extracts he sourced online.
The former police officer was also questioned about arranging for a friend to hire a van in her name.
Lamarre-Condon is accused of hiring a van to move the bodies of Baird and Davies to Bungonia.
He told the court the vehicle was needed to collect furniture he intended to purchase during a floor-stock sale at Nick Scali in Newcastle.
Lamarre-Condon said he required the furniture because he was preparing to move into a property in Roseberry. However, the purchase did not proceed after defects were discovered in the building.
He also confirmed that he had explored the possibility of buying property in Bali, although he said his research was conducted online only.
The former officer further told the court that earnings from his swimwear business, Ivy Swim, had been invested in Bitcoin.
He said most of the swimwear orders went to influencers, but could not recall the total number. He estimated there had been more than 10 orders, while being unable to say whether the figure exceeded 100.
Lamarre-Condon agreed the Ivy Swimwear bank account contained less than $1,000, but maintained that the remaining funds had been put into Bitcoin.
Mr Hatfield SC also asked where the swimwear was produced.
Lamarre-Condon answered that the products were manufactured in Bali.
He told the court he was distressed in November 2023 because he believed Baird had not been truthful about whether his relationships with other men were exclusive.
The court heard Lamarre-Condon wanted his romantic relationships to be exclusive.
