The evidence summarised here is the accused's own account, given under oath and subject to cross-examination.
The double murder trial of Beau Lamarre-Condon has moved into its most consequential phase, with the former New South Wales police officer returning to the witness box in the New South Wales supreme court to give evidence in his own defence. According to Guardian Australia's live coverage of the proceedings, the 31-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with his police service weapon at Baird's home in Paddington on 19 February 2024. He has also denied one charge of aggravated break and enter. The trial continues before Justice Natalie Adams and a jury of 15.
The evidence reported so far is largely an account of the days before the alleged killings, offered by the accused himself. Lamarre-Condon told the jury he signed out his firearm for a shift on 16 February 2024, three days before the alleged murders, and said he had permission to do so. He described stopping at East Village in Zetland to have his car washed on the way to work, and said it was common for police to stop for coffee or elsewhere en route. He told the court he had considered collecting belongings from Baird before the other man returned home from work, a course he said would have placed him in the same position he found himself in at trial, with his firearm still in his backpack.
He also gave evidence about a conversation with his mother, a former police officer, in a hire car in the days before the alleged murders. His voice wavered as he told the court he had put his phone on airplane mode, as he normally did for private conversations, and that his mother could tell something was not right. He said he had told her he was not feeling well because of work, and that she had tried to tell him it was time to leave the police force. The jury heard separately that he had been surfing since the age of 13 and had bought a surfboard cover on 17 February 2024, which he said was to retrieve his board from Baird's home without damaging it in transit.
In further evidence, Lamarre-Condon described an occasion in the Royal national park when he fired his gun, saying he had been thinking of taking his own life and wanted to test how loud the weapon was. He told the jury he was careful that the bullet did not hit anyone, and that particulate from the shot entered his eyes. He said he then put a brown paper bag over the firearm before firing a second shot. He also told the court that his relationship with Baird was not exclusive, describing them as doing things couples did while he continued to see other people.
What the trial has not yet established, at least in the material reported so far, is how the prosecution frames the central allegations and how the defence will address the charges of murder and aggravated break and enter. The evidence summarised here is the accused's own account, given under oath and subject to cross-examination, and the jury has yet to weigh it against the rest of the case. The proceedings are continuing.
