Source : Perth Now news
Marks made by a gun at close proximity were found on Jesse Baird after his decomposing body was discovered, a jury has heard.
Former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to the February 2024 murders of Mr Baird, his ex-partner, and the TV presenter’s new partner Luke Davies.
The third week of his double murder trial has pivoted to how investigators found the new couple’s remains in rural NSW.
Crime scene officer Greg Moon, who coordinated a forensic sweep of the Greek monastery at Bungonia where the men’s bodies were found, continued giving evidence on Thursday about the condition of the remains.
Most of the family members of Mr Baird and Mr Davies have not been present in court for the grisly forensic evidence.
Close-up photographs of the gunshot wound sustained by Mr Baird were shown to the jury, but not to people in the public gallery.
Mr Moon walked the length of the jury box during his evidence to individually show each juror pinprick marks around the wound known as stippling, caused by particles coming out of a gun when it is fired.
The Crown alleges Lamarre-Condon, now 31, killed Mr Baird “execution-style” at close range.
However, the former officer’s barrister says Mr Baird, 26, and Mr Davies, 29, were killed in self-defence when they engaged the accused in two separate violent struggles.
Mr Moon said examining the stippling can give an indication to the distance between the gun and its target.
“The closer the firearm is to the target, the stippling will be quite condensed around the gunshot wound,” Mr Moon said.
“The only area I saw stippling was around that gunshot wound on the right temple.”
Justice Natalie Adams warned jurors on Thursday they would see confronting photos as part of their civic duty.
“Skin will be in a decomposed state … it’s not going to look what you think it’s going to look like,” the judge said.
Many of the photos cannot be published publicly out of sensitivity to the men’s families.
The bodies were discovered inside two surfboard or stand-up paddleboard bags, with the smaller bag containing the body zipped up inside a larger one, Mr Moon said.
Mr Moon said the bodies were discovered one on top of the other with rocks and small branches placed on top.
Fellow investigator Christine Abela said she immediately knew something was amiss when she first arrived at the rural property more than a week after the two men were killed in the summer of 2024.
“There was a strong smell as soon as I got out of the car,” she told a NSW Supreme Court jury on Wednesday.
“The scent of a decomposing body.”
Sen Const Abela detailed how investigators found concrete blocks, a gym weight and a cut padlock at Cella Farm, where Lamarre-Condon allegedly was unsuccessful in sinking the bodies in a dam.
Mr Moon said there were multiple indicators that the remains had been at the monastery for several days.
“A large number of maggots and other insects were present in the bags along with other decompositional fluids,” he said.
Lamarre-Condon’s efforts to clean up and dispose of Mr Baird and Mr Davies’ bodies have come under scrutiny during the trial.
His barrister says the actions to dispose of their bodies at Bungonia – 200km south of Sydney – were indicative of his panic about the unexpected deaths.
Earlier in the trial, jurors were shown CCTV of the alleged actions the senior constable took in the hours after the killings, including buying a second surfboard bag and hiring a second, larger vehicle.
The footage, released by the court on Thursday, allegedly shows the heavily disguised Lamarre-Condon returning to the alleged murder scene laden down with cleaning products and a tarpaulin.
The 12-week trial continues.
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