source : the age
Warning: Graphic content
Police examining the Paddington home where Beau Lamarre-Condon is accused of murdering Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies found a fired bullet beneath the kitchen floor, a court has heard.
Lamarre-Condon, 31, is standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court on two counts of murder over the shooting deaths of Sydney couple Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29, in Paddington on February 19, 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
NSW Police senior sergeant Bronwyn Lansley, working in crime scene investigation, was the lead forensic investigator at the property and started giving evidence on Tuesday.
During her testimony, the 15-person jury has been shown marked-up floor plans of Baird’s share house, indicating items of forensic significance found at the property.
Lansley told the court that photographs and sketches with measurements were used to create the computer-aided design (CAD) plan of the terrace.
She said she “located a fired cartridge case … above the kitchen cupboards” when searching the kitchen with a ladder.
The prosecution case is that Lamarre-Condon shot Baird twice in the kitchen, including an “execution-style shot” through his temple, Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, said in his opening address to the jury. He said the bullet went through the floor.
A CAD-generated floor plan of the kitchen, indicating where the damaged bullet was found, was tendered in court along with a series of photographs from the scene. Lansley said the bullet was located “on the subfloor beneath the kitchen”.
Police also identified impact damage to a kitchen wall, the court heard. Lansley told the court the property had a trapdoor in the ground-floor bedroom leading to a subfloor, and a blood-stained tarpaulin was found under this room.
The prosecution alleges Lamarre-Condon, then a NSW police officer, murdered Baird after developing an “obsessive and jealous infatuation” with him that escalated when the former Network Ten producer and presenter ended their casual relationship in November 2023.
Davies, Baird’s new boyfriend, was killed to eliminate a witness to the crime, the Crown alleges.
There is no dispute that Lamarre-Condon was at the terrace when Baird and Davies died, that they died of gunshot wounds from his police-issued pistol, and that he was disguised as a delivery rider.
However, the defence case is that Lamarre-Condon was there to pick up some of his belongings and did not expect anybody to be home. A struggle ensued in which his gun accidentally went off twice, killing Baird, and Davies accidentally shot himself in a second struggle after grabbing the gun, the defence says.
The trial continues.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.
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