Trial evidence covered alleged confession, trespass admission and claimed self-defense

The New South Wales Supreme Court played to the jury on Monday a covert recording of a prison meeting in which former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon apologized to a friend for involving him in the case.

Lamarre-Condon, 31, is accused of fatally shooting couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter. The trial is before Justice Natalie Adams.

On Monday, the friend was back in the witness stand while the court played a recording of a conversation the friend recorded on behalf of police when he visited Lamarre-Condon in prison. The recording captured a prison meeting in December last year. At the beginning of the conversation, Lamarre-Condon asked the friend to turn around and show he was not wearing a wire. The friend replied, “You’re so paranoid,” and told him, “Calm down.”

The friend said to Lamarre-Condon during the prison visit: “You put me in a scenario that’s very difficult for me.” Lamarre-Condon apologized, stating, “I fully take accountability that you’re involved because of me now,” the court heard on Monday. In the recording, the friend said he was upset because Lamarre-Condon had said he was dumb. Lamarre-Condon replied, “You’re not dumb OK,” before then telling his friend: “You’re not self aware in the way that I am.”

During the recorded conversation, the friend could be heard threatening to leave multiple times. He warned, “What you’re telling me mightn’t be the truth.”

The friend’s identity is suppressed. On Friday, he testified that Lamarre-Condon allegedly confessed to killing couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, and told his friend the confession was an “out-of-body experience,” before then attempting to play it off as a joke.

In the recording played to the jury, Lamarre-Condon told his friend his entry into Baird’s home was not break and enter because Baird had got a key cut for him. He admitted that entering the Paddington terrace was trespass, but claimed it was normal to return to a former partner’s home to retrieve belongings. He said he did not knock on the door to get the belongings back because he did not want to be “slapped with an apprehended violence order,” but he did call out hello when he walked inside.

Lamarre-Condon accused his friend during the conversation of lying “about so much shit” in his statement to police. He said his friend was wrong to recollect that Lamarre-Condon had said Davies was killed to eliminate a witness and that in fact he had acted in self-defense. The friend responded during the prison visit: “Don’t you dare switch up.”

In the recording played to the jury, Lamarre-Condon told his friend: “If I had planned to do this mate, I’d be cool, calm, collected.” He said he would have had “cleaning ready to go” and he would not have used a police firearm. He added: “I can get [another gun] for $10,000, I could have done all these things.”

Lamarre-Condon told the friend he took him to the Royal national park before the murders in early 2024 and shot his gun to test how loud the gunshots were because he was planning to return there to take his own life. He told the friend during the recording that he had been suffering from suicidality from trauma at work.

The trial before Justice Natalie Adams continued after the recording was played.

A photograph accompanying the report shows Lamarre-Condon at Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade in 2020 and is credited to James Gourley/AAP. Another image shows artwork for a 2024 memorial event for Luke Davies, on the left, and Jesse Baird, credited to Nordacious.

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org.