Beau Lamarre-Condon’s lawyer has told the court his client entered his former boyfriend Jesse Baird’s home to retrieve jewellery, not to kill him.
In opening submissions on Tuesday, defence barrister John Stratton SC said Lamarre-Condon “didn’t want to go through the embarrassment” of seeing Baird that morning.
The court heard he waited until the house was empty before letting himself inside, dressed as an Uber Eats driver in case someone answered the door.
Mr Stratton said Baird was carrying a knife and failed to recognise Lamarre-Condon, who was wearing a motorbike helmet and high-visibility clothing.
Lamarre-Condon had his gun with him because, as a trained police officer, he had been taught never to leave a firearm in a car where it could be stolen, the court heard.
According to Mr Stratton, Baird seized the gun during a struggle, causing it to discharge and fatally wound him.
The firearm was thrown into the living room before Lamarre-Condon began walking down 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.
Mr Stratton said his client had never intended to hurt 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 told the court that his client did not break into Baird’s house in August 2023, but entered using a key he had been given.
The court heard Lamarre-Condon struggled with the break-up and engaged in “stupid things”, including looking through Baird’s phone and deleting messages.
Mr Stratton said Lamarre-Condon had never threatened Baird and that there had been no escalation of violence.
The first witness is due to be called after morning tea at 11.50am.
