in brief
- Prosecutors allege one of the two killings was planned, while the other was "unplanned".
- A friend told police the accused said he had "killed two people", the court heard.
Accused double murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon did not plan to kill or harm Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, and his attempts to conceal their deaths were "not the actions of a man who believed he was guilty of murder", a jury has been told.
The 31-year-old former police officer is accused of murdering Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29, with a police firearm at Baird's home in Paddington in Sydney's inner-east on 19 February 2024.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Lamarre-Condon's barrister John Stratton told the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney it was not in dispute that his client was "very upset" and did "some stupid things" after a breakup with Baird in November 2023, including "looking through the phone of Jesse Baird … and deleting text messages" from other men.
But the defence case will argue that the accused acted in self-defence during a "struggle" over a gun.
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Stratton told the court his client came to Baird's home to retrieve belongings and, to avoid "embarrassment" of facing Baird in person, had "disguised himself … so he could masquerade as being a delivery person in case someone unexpectedly opened the door".
He argued the accused entered Baird's home on the day of the alleged murders with "a key provided to him" and "had a gun with him because he was a police officer … and could not leave a gun unattended".
Stratton said the defence will argue that, when inside the home, Lamarre-Condon and Baird "struggled … and the gun was flung into the lounge room" and Baird was shot during the struggle.
The defence will argue that Davies then appeared and, in another struggle, the accused "pushed the gun away from himself … Luke Davies pulled the trigger and shot himself".
"The accused understandably panicked," Stratton said.
"[He] bought some cleaning products … surfboard bags … drove to the property at Bungonia and tried to sink the bodies … later returned and buried the bodies at a Greek monastery.
"These are not the actions of a man who believed he was guilty of murder … but a man who had panicked considerably and knew the gravity of the situation he was in."
Stratton told the jury this was further evidenced by Lamarre-Condon informing the police of where they would find the bodies, nearly a week after Baird and Davies were killed.
Prosecution case details
Earlier on Tuesday, Crown barrister Brett Hatfield continued opening remarks on the second day of the trial.
Hatfield took the jury through a detailed timeline of events from the morning of the murders to the accused turning himself in to police and eventually revealing the location of the bodies, eight days later.
The jury was shown a CCTV image of the accused dressed as a delivery driver, wearing a motorcycle helmet and high-visibility vest and carrying a green Uber Eats paper bag.
Security camera footage and audio recorded outside Baird's Paddington home at 9.49am was played to the courtroom, which heard two loud gunshots four seconds apart, followed by a third gunshot 51 seconds later.
Hatfield told the jury the Crown would present forensic evidence to prove that the accused shot Baird twice, once through the back of the neck, and once "execution style down through his right temple".
The jury was shown photos taken from the scene of a "ricochet mark on kitchen wall" and "bullet hole in the kitchen floor" and was told that a bullet was located below the kitchen floor "underneath the house", and "testing confirmed it was Jesse Baird's blood" on that bullet.
The third gunshot, Hatfield said, was the alleged fatal shot, fired through the bedroom door as Davies called Triple Zero. An audio recording of the call will be played to the jury later in the trial.
Hatfield told the jury the bullet hole from the third gunshot was not found for some time by police, as it had been concealed by a "stick-on hook and a felt pad" on either side of the bedroom door.
"Having killed the two men, the accused immediately engaged in a deliberate and calculated series of actions to conceal their bodies and show that they were still alive," Hatfield said.
In addition to cleaning blood stains in the home, Hatfield told the jury he would present evidence that Baird's body was moved from the kitchen to the bedroom and that his blood had dripped through the floorboards to the cavity underneath the house.
Accused told a friend he had 'killed two people'
Hatfield told the jury the accused remained at the Paddington home for about an hour after the alleged murders took place.
After leaving, Hatfield said the accused went to see a friend, who later provided a statement to police saying Lamarre-Condon "said he had killed two people … with a gun".
Later, the witness said Lamarre-Condon called him later that day to say he had been joking and "should get an Oscar".
The jury was taken through the accused's movements as captured on CCTV and based on witness statements in the hours and days after alleged murders.
Hatfield has argued Lamarre-Condon's alleged murder of Baird was premeditated. But he told the jury the alleged killing of Davies was "unplanned", saying the accused later returned to Bunnings to buy a second surfboard bag to conceal Davies' body.
CCTV images also showed him returning to Bunnings several times to buy items including cleaning materials, bleach, bin bags, cable ties, quick-set concrete and 10kg weights.
The jury was shown excerpts of several text messages sent from Baird's phone to his flatmates after he was killed, including "I might be flying to Perth tonight", "I might be going on a road trip to Perth", and "I've hired an Airtasker to come and collect my things".
Hatfield told the jury the accused returned to Baird's home several times after the alleged murders to clean, remove Baird's furniture and put Baird's and Davies' bodies in surfboard bags.
Photos taken by two of Baird's roommates of the surfboard bags at the house were shown to the court. The jury was told the roommates did not realise at the time the bags contained the bodies of Baird and Davies.
Hatfield said the accused "attempted to sink the bodies at Calla Farm, Bungonia", using the quick-set concrete poured into the surfboard bags with the weights.
The attempt failed, and the accused brought the bodies back to Sydney, the jury was told.
On 22 February the accused returned to the area and "deposited the bodies on the fenceline outside a Greek monastery in Bungonia" on top of each other in the surfboard bags and covered in rocks and sticks, Hatfield said.
Hatfield told the jury that, before turning himself in at Bondi police station, the accused told a police helpline and later the police officers questioning him that he had suffered trauma in his work as a police officer and had symptoms of schizophrenia.
Hatfield told the jury the accused was "not on any medication for schizophrenia, or any other mental health condition at this time" and argued he tried to create the impression he was "not criminally responsible" due to a mental health condition.
On Monday, Hatfield told the jury Lamarre-Condon was motivated to kill Baird by a "jealous infatuation" after the pair broke up, which led to "obsessive and compulsive" behaviours including stalking.
The trial continues.
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