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NSW Cop Accused of Disguising as Uber Eats Driver Before Murders
Confirmed
In Short: Former NSW police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, with prosecutors alleging he disguised himself as an Uber Eats rider.
Former NSW police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, has 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.
According to prosecutors, Lamarre-Condon allegedly murdered Jesse Baird and Luke Davies after developing an obsessive infatuation with Baird.
Hatfield told the jury that Lamarre-Condon allegedly disguised himself as an Uber Eats rider before approaching Baird’s home on February 19, 2024.
Davies, a 29-year-old Qantas flight attendant, was allegedly killed to eliminate him as a witness.
During the trial, Hatfield read a text message from Baird to Lamarre-Condon, expressing concern about being lied to.
What this adds
The court heard that Lamarre-Condon had been planning the murders since early 2024.
What's confirmed
- “He can be seen walking [on Baird’s street] at around 9.10am, at that point disguised as an Uber Eats delivery driver,” Hatfield said.
- Hatfield said the prosecution case is that Lamarre-Condon should not have had his firearm with him because he was not on duty that day, nor the next day.
- To prevent Davies from calling for help and exposing his crime, Lamarre-Condon shot him in the head through the door of the bedroom, Hatfield told the jury.
- “He eventually handed himself at the Bondi police station on the morning of 23 February,” Hatfield said.
- Hatfield told the jury there would be evidence that Lamarre-Condon engaged in a range of obsessive conduct including monitoring Baird’s relationship with other men by accessing his mobile phone, interfering with his social media accounts by blocking people, stalking him and breaking into his home more than once.
- Baird sent Lamarre-Condon a “lengthy and sympathetic message” saying he was “not ready” for a relationship in April 2023, Hatfield said, but the relationship resumed briefly in September or October 2023 before Baird “firmly and irretrievably” ended it in mid-November 2023.
- The Crown alleged Baird did so after “he found out that the accused had accessed his phone and deleted his messages and blocked people”.
- A former NSW police officer accused of murdering Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies allegedly disguised himself as an Uber Eats rider before shooting both men at Baird’s eastern suburbs home, his criminal trial has heard.
- Beau Lamarre-Condon, a senior constable at the time of the killings on February 19, 2024, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.
- His criminal trial in the NSW Supreme Court opened in Sydney’s historic King Street court complex on Monday.
- In his opening address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, alleged Lamarre-Condon had “formed an obsessive and jealous infatuation” with Jesse Baird after a brief relationship starting in late 2022 and ending in 2023.
- The relationship, which Hatfield alleged was “somewhat casual” from Baird’s perspective, was “firmly and irretrievably ended” by Baird in November 2023 after an earlier break-up in April.
What's still developing
- Former police officer, 31, pleads not guilty to two counts of murder as his supreme court trial begins in Sydney Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Former police officer, 31, pleads not guilty to two counts of murder as his supreme court trial begins in Sydney Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast 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.
- While 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.
- 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”.
- 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”.
- 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”.
- 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.
- 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, 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.
- On 17 August 2023, Lamarre-Condon allegedly broke into Baird’s house and stole his phone and wallet.
- 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 onto Instagram captioned “when he’s in Melbourne but still sends you these” with a heart-eyes emoji.