A former policeman allegedly murdered a man with an “execution-style shot” after developing an “infatuation” that led him to stalk his victim, fake a cancer diagnosis and misuse his authority as an officer to obtain CCTV footage, a court has been told.
Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter as his trial began in the NSW supreme court in Sydney on Monday.
He has been accused of fatally shooting Jesse Baird, 26, and Baird’s partner, Luke Davies, 29, with his police service weapon at Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.
Lamarre-Condon, wearing a light grey suit, dark tie and white shirt, listened intently as the prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC laid out the crown’s case.
Baird and Lamarre-Condon met in late 2022 and were involved in a romantic and sexual relationship that the policeman hoped would become long-term, but was “somewhat casual” from Baird’s perspective, the court heard.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailWhile they were together, Lamarre-Condon would use Baird’s phone to delete messages from “romantic rivals” on social media and block them, Hatfield told the court.
The relationship ended in April 2023 when Baird sent the police officer a message accusing him of an “excessive and jealous infatuation”.
Hatfield said Lamarre-Condon misused his authority as a police officer to obtain CCTV footage of Baird at a pub in Paddington, which had “nothing to do with the accused’s duties”.
He also broke into Baird’s home on more than one occasion, the court was told.
On 17 August 2023, Lamarre-Condon allegedly broke into Baird’s house and stole his phone and wallet.
The younger man woke up and saw the intruder standing next to his bed before chasing him out of the house and down the street, the jury heard.
The pair got back together briefly in September 2023 before Baird officially ended things in November, when Lamarre-Condon posted a photo of a bouquet on to Instagram captioned “when he’s in Melbourne but still sends you these” with a heart-eyes emoji.
Because it was posted on to his close friends story, he was able to block Baird from seeing the photo while allowing any potential “romantic rivals” to view it.
When Baird confronted Lamarre-Condon about the post, the police officer lied, telling him it was a misunderstanding and that the flowers were a gift from his stepfather to his mother, the court heard.
Lamarre-Condon then rushed to a florist and asked them to make a bouquet that matched the one in the photograph before taking a photo of his mother with the flowers and sending it to Baird.
In a text read to the court by Hatfield during his opening statement, Baird said: “I feel like I’m being lied to … this afternoon I gave you a chance to tell me the truth and I don’t think you did that.
“I think it’s best if we focus on ourselves and stop seeing each other … I’d appreciate if you could refrain from contacting me,” he said.
Lamarre-Condon responded and said: “I’ve never done anything crazy … I’m not a liar, you’ve met my closest friends who have known me for 15+ years. My biggest quality is my honesty.”
He later admitted he had lied, Hatfield told the court.
Shortly after the breakup, the policeman sent Baird a 1,600-word message through a friend’s phone.
It claimed Lamarre-Condon had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in his left shoulder, which could require amputation, and had been taking “one of the strongest medications” to explain his erratic behaviour.
The crown alleged Lamarre-Condon began planning to murder Jesse Baird in early 2024.
He started investigating ways to conceal the sound of gunfire, hired a vehicle under his mother’s name, and bought a surfboard bag to dispose of the body, Hatfield told the jury on Monday.
After Baird posted a photo with Davies on 7 February 2024, Lamarre-Condon told a friend he had the tyres cut on Baird’s car.
He asked another friend what would happen if water was added to a diesel engine, knowing Baird used a diesel ute, the court heard.
Around this time, the 26-year-old Baird began telling friends he was fearful of Lamarre-Condon, Hatfield said.
On the morning of the alleged murders, Lamarre-Condon woke up at 4.30am, drove a car rented under his mother’s name to Baird’s home in eastern Sydney and staked out the terrace house for three hours, watching for Baird’s housemates to leave, jurors were told.
Lamarre-Condon was dressed as an Uber Eats driver – wearing a motorcycle helmet, high visibility clothing and carrying an Uber Eats paper bag – when he opened the door of Baird’s home using a key he had previously stolen.
The police officer then walked into the kitchen and shot Baird twice – once at the base of the neck and through his jaw, and another time through the right temple, the court heard.
“This second shot was an execution-style shot,” Hatfield told the jury.
Davies was in the bedroom at the time and attempted to call triple zero, before he was shot in the head through the door of the bedroom, the prosecutor said.
In the immediate aftermath, Lamarre-Condon allegedly returned to the home multiple times, asking a friend for help to clean up the scene, disposing of Baird’s bloody furniture and clothing at a skip bin in Cronulla, and doing what he could to “try make it look like they had just disappeared”, Hatfield told the court.
He sent messages from Baird’s phone to give the impression he was still alive before unsuccessfully attempting to sink the bodies in a dam.
The bodies were found almost 200km away near the fence line of a Greek Orthodox monastery in Bungonia, eight days after they were killed.
Lamarre-Condon earlier on Monday offered to plead guilty to an alternative charge of manslaughter, but it was rejected by the prosecution.
Baird and Davies’ loved ones, including their mothers and siblings, watched proceedings at the courthouse.
The trial before justice Natalie Adams continues.
