Crown prosecutors and the defence team for Beau Lamarre-Condon concluded their opening statements in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Defence barrister John Stratton told the court Lamarre-Condon entered his former boyfriend Jesse Baird’s home to retrieve jewellery, not to kill him.
Mr Stratton said his client did not want to face the embarrassment of meeting Baird that morning.
The court heard Lamarre-Condon waited until the house was empty before letting himself in, dressed as an Uber Eats driver in case someone answered the door.
According to Mr Stratton, Baird was holding a knife and failed to recognise Lamarre-Condon because he was wearing a motorbike helmet and high-visibility clothing.
Lamarre-Condon had his firearm with him because, as a trained police officer, he had been taught never to leave a gun in a car where it could be stolen, the court heard.
Mr Stratton said Baird seized the firearm during a struggle, causing it to discharge and fatally wound him.
The gun was thrown into the living room, before Lamarre-Condon walked along the hallway while calling Triple-0, the court heard.
He then encountered Luke Davies, Baird’s new boyfriend.
Lamarre-Condon grabbed Davies by the arm and pushed the gun away from himself, before Davies pulled the trigger and fatally shot himself, the court heard.
Mr Stratton maintained that Lamarre-Condon never intended to harm anyone in Paddington that day and had acted in self-defence.
“After that, the accused panicked, he knew it looked bad,” Mr Stratton said.
“He cleaned up as much as he could and threw the knife into the yard of a house on Lawson Street.”
Mr Stratton also denied that his client had broken into Baird’s home in August 2023, saying he had entered using a key that had been given to him.
The court heard Lamarre-Condon struggled to cope with the end of his relationship with Baird and engaged in “stupid things”, including searching Baird’s phone and deleting messages.
Security footage from the front yard of a neighbour’s home in Paddington captured the sound of gunshots on the day of the alleged double murder, and the recordings were played in court.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield alleged the three shots heard on the footage were the shots that killed Baird and Davies.
Mr Hatfield further alleged that Lamarre-Condon told a friend he had “killed two people” and said his work as a senior constable had “f***ed me up”.
When the friend asked how he had allegedly killed two people, Lamarre-Condon reportedly responded: “Pew pew.”
The court also heard that, after the alleged murders, Lamarre-Condon stopped at Westfield Miranda in Sydney’s south and bought a second surfboard case from Decathlon for $85. He already had one case.
He then allegedly went to Bunnings in Alexandria in Sydney’s west, and bought a bucket, mop, bleach, black cable ties, a 20-pack of cleaning cloths, double-sided tape, and garbage bags.
Lamarre-Condon also allegedly made a complaint about the NSW Police Force while on his way to hand himself in for the alleged murders of Baird and Davies, the court heard.
During that phone call, he said: ‘I’ve been bullied, but when I reported it, no action was taken … All this death and trauma and psychological abuse … Did I say trauma already?
‘… It has caused me to have symptoms of schizophrenia … sorry, can we start again? Delete the whole thing, we’ll just keep it short and sweet.’
He then handed himself in to detectives in Bondi, the court heard, during which he allegedly said he took medication for depression and schizophrenia, but couldn’t remember what the medication was called.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC told the court Lamarre-Condon was not on any medication for mental health issues, and that mental health impairment did not form part of his defence.
Baird’s sister Kourtnee (pictured above in white trousers) told the court her brother was ‘fearful’ because Lamarre-Condon was a police officer with a weapon, and that he would block Baird’s contacts on his phone.
She also told the court that her brother believed he was being followed.
‘He got messages [from Lamarre-Condon] saying “you looked really good in the gym tonight”, or when he was out for coffee or a meal he would often receive messages saying he looked nice in what he was wearing.’
Baird’s mother (pictured above in black) broke down on the stand while talking about her son.
