Beau Lamarre-Condon denies spying on Jesse Baird, gives emotional testimony in double murder trial

Lamarre-Condon started giving evidence on Thursday in the NSW Supreme Court and gave emotional testimony about alleged homophobia in the police force and the effect of work-related trauma on his mental health. The 31-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murdering Baird, 26, a former Network Ten producer and presenter, and Luke Davies, 29, a Qantas flight attendant, in Paddington on February 19, 2024.

He denied claims by a former friend, called Elizabeth Kennedy in proceedings, that he sent her a photo of Baird apparently in bed with another man. Lamarre-Condon said he and Baird had a “very, very civil” breakup on April 17, 2023, after meeting in October 2022. He said he had read Baird’s Instagram messages with another man days earlier, when Baird gave him access to his phone to edit a video, and sent a photo of the messages to “multiple friends asking for advice”.

The accused said he visited Baird’s home one night after April 21 to collect belongings, and saw Baird having sex through sheer curtains. “I kind of froze in a bit of a shock, and I maybe stood there for like five seconds. I did not stay and watch like a little creep,” he said. He said he did not take a photo and “actually laughed about it with friends” because “we were no longer together, there was no reason to be angry or mad about it”.

Lamarre-Condon has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of breaking into Baird’s home on August 17, 2023, and stealing his wallet and mobile phone. He told the court Baird had invited him over and said he would leave a key in the letterbox if he chose to come over. He used the key but put a bobby pin in the lock. “I wanted to see if Jesse was in a relationship [with another man] or not,” he said. “If he was to wake up and come outside, he would see the bobby pin [and] not be under the impression that it was me going through his phone.” Baird woke up and “gave chase” without knowing who it was. “It was stupid, and I admit that it was stupid,” Lamarre-Condon said.

The court heard Baird broke up with Lamarre-Condon permanently in November 2023. Lamarre-Condon said he eventually admitted to Baird that he had posted an image of flowers on Instagram to “insinuate” they were from Baird. He said he initially “denied, denied, denied” but “10 hours after denying it I came clean” in a voice note. He said he also admitted going through Baird’s phone around November 15 or 16 and blocking a man he believed Baird was dating and deleting their messages.

Lamarre-Condon was also asked about CCTV footage from the Royal Hotel in Paddington on May 19, 2023, which the court has heard showed Baird was on a date with another man. He said he came across the footage while helping police colleagues with official duties and sent it to Baird as joking banter: “I came to see you. You weren’t here, but Detective Beau’s on the case. Spotted you.”

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.