Former police officer testifies in Sydney double-murder trial

Beau Lamarre-Condon, a 31-year-old former police officer, took the witness stand as the first defence witness in his trial for the February 2024 shooting of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies at Baird’s Paddington home. The case is being heard by a 15-person jury in the NSW Supreme Court.

Lamarre-Condon recounted that he and Baird met at an escape-room event in January 2023, after which Baird gave him access to his phone to edit a video. He said Instagram notifications from another man appeared, and he photographed the messages, noting he did not block or delete any communications.

During cross-examination, defence counsel John Stratton SC read text exchanges between Lamarre-Condon and Baird from December 2022, in which the pair expressed affection and discussed meeting family members. Lamarre-Condon described their relationship as evolving from a “friends with a sexual relationship” in October-November 2022 to “romantic dates” by December.

He also testified about his police career, saying he had been transferred to the youth command division to escape colleagues he felt were “tormenting” him, and recalling exposure to graphic incidents such as suicides and train-jumping. He mentioned a co-worker who shot himself at work, describing the conversation that preceded the act.

Lamarre-Condon alleged that a former supervisor made homophobic remarks, quoting the supervisor as saying he had “bash[ed] gay people” and using a slur during a domestic-violence response.

The courtroom was filled with members of the public watching the testimony, and the trial was paused for a lunch break before resuming at 2 p.m.