Former police officer tells court he was attempting to compile statements about ‘bullying from a certain sergeant’ but was worried about speaking publicly
Beau Lamarre-Condon has told a Sydney court he obtained a sim card under a pseudonym a month before allegedly murdering two men because he wanted to go to the media about bullying allegations in the police force.
The former police officer is accused of fatally shooting Jesse Baird and his new partner Luke Davies with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home in Sydney on 19 February 2024.
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter.
Sat in the witness box for the seventh day, Lamarre-Condon was asked about purchasing a sim card under the name “Bob Ballard” on 15 January 2024, about a month before the shootings.
Lamarre-Condon told the jury in his double murder trial it had “nothing to do with Jesse Baird”.
He was attempting to compile statements about “bullying from a certain sergeant” but was worried about speaking publicly on the issue, Lamarre-Condon said.
“I was wanting to go and compile all these statements and go to the media,” he told the New South Wales supreme court on Friday.
“I didn’t want to communicate at all from my phone because you can become a target … there would be repercussions.”
Under cross-examination by the crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC, Lamarre-Condon agreed he was using the new sim card to contact former and current officers.
But asked why his phone records showed he only contacted one police officer on this sim, Lamarre-Condon said it only revealed his normal phone calls, telling the court: “You can’t see what I did on Signal.”
The prosecutor said he could have used encrypted messaging app Signal on his normal phone, but Lamarre-Condon claimed police could make him unlock his own device and view his Signal records if he was investigated for talking to the media.
Hatfield also questioned why Lamarre-Condon had Davies’s contact details on his phone.
The former officer claimed Davies’s details were on his Instagram.
“I went and blocked numerous Instagram [accounts] from my own Instagram because of this incident,” he said, referring to the shootings.
“I even blocked Jesse’s family members from my account. I didn’t want any of that.”
He deactivated his social media accounts soon after.
The trial before Justice Natalie Adams continues.
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Source: www.theguardian.com
