source : the age
Accused double murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon allegedly broke into Jesse Baird’s home and stole his mobile phone hours after the then TV presenter rebuffed his suggestion of a catchup, a court has heard.
Lamarre-Condon, 31, is standing trial on two counts of murder over the shooting deaths of Jesse Baird, 26, a former Network Ten producer and presenter, and Luke Davies, 29, a Qantas flight attendant, in February 2024. The former NSW police officer has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Six months before the men’s deaths, Lamarre-Condon allegedly broke into Baird’s Paddington share house and stole his wallet and mobile phone. He has also pleaded not guilty to this charge.
The accused’s NSW Supreme Court trial heard on Monday that he texted Baird at 7.27pm on August 16, 2023: “Hey, sorry I had to run yesterday. I was running a tad late or I would have loved to chat for longer.
“Let’s do a walk and lunch catchup next weekend … then we can have a proper catchup. Good seeing you though.”
Baird replied at 1.49pm the following day: “It was good to see you too and glad you had fun in Euro.”
Lamarre-Condon sent a screenshot of the messages to his then friend, the now senior constable Dana Schagen, who replied: “OMG. I’m dying. That’s so savage. No, it’s defs savage.
“If he was keen, he would have jumped on the bandwagon.”
Asked what she meant, Schagen told the court: “It’s quite evident from the text messages that Jesse had absolutely no interest in catching up with the accused at all.
“His response is the equivalent of a thumbs up. There’s no follow up to catch up with him.”
Schagen texted Lamarre-Condon on August 19 to ask if he had heard back from Baird after this.
“Yes I did hear back from him,” Lamarre-Condon replied on August 21.
“He had a home invasion so he couldn’t text me that as his phone got stolen but we are catching up next Wednesday night for dinner. He said he full chased after the guy too.”
Schagen texted: “But managed to send the first message back? I don’t get it.”
Lamarre-Condon replied: “Yes, because it happened after that. He isn’t lying.”
Prosecutor Caitlin Diggins asked Schagen: “Did the accused tell you that he was the person Jesse had to chase out?”
“No,” Schagen replied.
The court heard that Lamarre-Condon called Schagen on March 28, more than a month after the alleged murders on February 19, using a friend’s mobile phone, and said: “I just wanted to tell you that I love you, and before you do anything, you need to know not everything in the news is true.
“It’ll come out in court.”
Schagen said she cut off the accused and said: “You killed two people. Why would you think I would ever want to speak to you again?” She hung up and reported the phone call to her boss, the court heard.
The Crown alleges Lamarre-Condon broke into Baird’s home and stole his mobile phone and wallet while Baird was home on August 17, 2023. He has pleaded not guilty to this charge.
The defence case is that he used a key Baird had given him to enter the home.
Baird reported the alleged break-in at the time, the court has heard, and said he had woken shortly before midnight to a man standing over his bed. Investigating police took a photo of a bobby pin in the lock of Baird’s home, tendered in evidence in the trial.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, alleged in his opening address to the 15-person jury that Lamarre-Condon used a key he had “stolen or surreptitiously copied to enter before putting a bobby pin in the door to give the impression that the lock on the door was picked”.
It was “some six months before the two murder counts”, Hatfield said.
“A wallet containing cash and ID was later found, having been discarded,” he said. “The phone was never recovered.”
The court has heard that Lamarre-Condon and Baird had a casual relationship that started in late 2022 and ended for the first time in April 2023, before they briefly reconnected in September.
The Crown alleges Lamarre-Condon killed Baird after developing an “obsessive and jealous infatuation” with him that escalated when Baird ended their casual relationship permanently in November 2023.
The prosecution alleges the then NSW police officer shot Davies, Baird’s new boyfriend, to eliminate a witness to his crime.
The defence case is that Lamarre-Condon entered Baird’s share house disguised as a delivery rider to retrieve some of his belongings. According to the defence, a struggle ensued in which his police gun went off twice, killing Baird, and Davies shot himself accidentally in a second struggle.
The accused had his Glock pistol with him because he was trained not to leave it unattended, the defence has said. The Crown has said he should not have had the weapon because he was not rostered to work that day.
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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