Murder Trial Begins for Former Sydney Police Officer Accused of Killing Jesse Baird and Luke Davies

The murder trial of former New South Wales police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon commenced on Monday in the Supreme Court, with the Crown alleging that the 31-year-old defendant stalked and killed television presenter Jesse Baird and his partner, Luke Davies, in February 2024. Mr Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to two counts of domestic violence-related murder and one count of aggravated break and enter.

Appearing before Justice Natalie Adams, Mr Lamarre-Condon sat quietly in the dock as Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC delivered his opening address to a jury of 15. The trial is estimated to last for three months and is expected to feature testimony from dozens of witnesses, including family members, friends, former colleagues, and housemates of the victims.

According to the Crown's opening address reported by ABC News, Mr Lamarre-Condon and Mr Baird were romantically involved in late 2022, though Mr Baird viewed the relationship as casual and attempted to end it in April 2023. Prosecutor Hatfield told jurors that the accused "did not take the end of the relationship well" and subsequently developed an obsessive and jealous infatuation, monitoring Mr Baird's social media accounts, interfering with his digital communications, and following him around Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The court heard that the alleged harassment escalated through 2023, including an incident in August where Mr Baird woke up to find an intruder standing by his bed and chased him out of his Paddington terrace home. Mr Baird later firmly and irretrievably ended communication in November 2023 after discovering that the accused had accessed and manipulated his mobile phone. Following this breakup, the Crown alleged that Mr Lamarre-Condon sent a lengthy message posing as a friend, falsely attempting to attribute his intrusive behavior to treatment for a cancer diagnosis.

Detailing the events of February 19, 2024, the Crown alleged that Mr Lamarre-Condon prepared for the killings in the weeks prior by stealing training bullets, experimenting with sound suppression, hiring a vehicle in his mother's name, and purchasing a surfboard bag intended for body disposal. Prosecutors stated that the accused switched to a burner phone, drove to a staging point in Kensington, and staked out Mr Baird's Brown Street terrace in Paddington for over three hours while dressed as an Uber Eats delivery driver.

The Crown alleges that Mr Lamarre-Condon used a previously stolen key to enter the property, went to the kitchen, and shot Mr Baird twice using his off-duty service firearm, describing the second gunshot as an execution-style act. Jurors were told that Mr Davies, who had recently started a relationship with Mr Baird after they met on New Year's Eve in 2023, was in the bedroom and attempted to call Triple Zero. The prosecution alleges Mr Lamarre-Condon shot Mr Davies to prevent him from calling for help.

Following the alleged shootings, the Crown stated that the defendant spent nearly an hour cleaning the crime scene. He is accused of undertaking an elaborate series of actions to destroy evidence, which included sending messages from Mr Baird's phone to simulate activity, discarding bloodied items in a Cronulla skip bin, and initially attempting to submerge the victims' bodies in a dam.

The trial adjourned on Monday afternoon following the first portion of the Crown's opening address, with prosecutor Hatfield scheduled to continue his presentation on Tuesday. Justice Adams cautioned the jury members not to discuss the case outside the courtroom, as the panel prepares to review graphic evidence and hear extensive testimony over the coming weeks.