NSW police officer accused of murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies tells court he wanted to do ‘right thing’ by their families
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Beau Lamarre-Condon has accused a friend of encouraging him to dispose of the bodies of two men “straight away” despite him wanting to report the deaths to police, according to his first statement to his double murder trial.
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. His legal team has argued that Baird and Davies were accidentally shot, and that he had acted in “self-defence”.
One of his friends, known to the court under the pseudonym Elizabeth Kennedy, had accompanied Lamarre-Condon while he allegedly disposed of the bodies, the trial has heard. She gave evidence last week that she thought she and the then-police officer were going out for lunch when he picked her up, two days after the alleged murders.
She denied in court helping Lamarre-Condon and said “I didn’t know anything”.
On Tuesday, Lamarre-Condon had a statement read to court that contradicted Kennedy’s version of events.
He alleged in the statement that Kennedy “flat-out lied to police in her statement regarding her involvement” and he wanted to do the “right thing” by the families of Baird and Davies because “they deserve to know the truth, too”.
In the statement read to the court by prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC, Lamarre-Condon alleged that after he picked up Kennedy, he showed her the bodies in the back of a van.
He alleged that he began to cry and then said to Kennedy: “I should just drive straight to the police now, shouldn’t I?”
Lamarre-Condon told the court that Kennedy replied: “No, no, you can’t. They won’t believe you.
“This is like Taylor Swift’s song, No Body, No Crime. We have to get rid of them straight away,” she allegedly said.
According to his statement, Lamarre-Condon warned Kennedy she could be charged as an accessory to murder, and he would not be mad if she walked away “right now”.
He alleged that she said she would help him because he “would help me if I ever needed … help with anything”.
He also told the court that while they drove, Kennedy played the song “No Body, No Crime” by Taylor Swift on her phone and “began laughing at the situation”.
He alleged Kennedy then assisted with carrying the bodies and helped pour concrete into the bags to help them sink after they arrived at a farm in Bungonia.
“When the bag [wouldn’t] sink, [Kennedy] got my pocketknife out … and tried to cut multiple holes into the surfboard cover. This is where Luke got the knife wounds in his leg,” Lamarre-Condon said in his statement.
“Whilst [Kennedy] was assisting me on the farm, at no point did she say she didn’t want to assist or have any part in it. She was a willing participant.”
He said he initially didn’t tell police about Kennedy’s involvement in disposing of the bodies because she had begged him not to. He alleged he told her that if it went before court, he’d have to tell the truth because he “can’t lie under oath”.
Last week, Kennedy told the court she did not willingly help Lamarre-Condon, nor did she help to sink the bodies. While under questioning by Lamarre-Condon’s barrister, John Stratton SC, she said: “I didn’t know anything. I’m five foot and weigh 55 kilos so I don’t think I could carry a body even if I tried.”
Kennedy told the court that she waited at a gate while Lamarre-Condon drove out of sight to a dam on the farm.
She denied that Lamarre-Condon had told her Baird was dead. She also alleged it was him who played the Swift song in the car.
“He was the one that put that song on in the car … it’s a very niche song,” she told the court last week.
A psychological injury
Lamarre-Condon handed himself into police on the 23 February 2024 at 10.37am, the court heard on Tuesday.
Earlier that morning, Lamarre Condon reported a psychological injury to a police assistance line.
The jury was played a recording of Lamarre-Condon’s phone call with the operator, where he was heard stating: “Just so you’re not shocked, my name is Beau Lamarre.”
The operator doesn’t register any familiarity with the name and asked questions relating to Lamarre-Condon’s injury report.
The police officer told her he was suffering anxiety and “some symptoms of schizophrenia” before he asked her to “delete that whole thing”. He said: “We’ll just keep it short and sweet.”
In the recording, Lamarre-Condon continued: “I have been exposed to trauma, destruction and death which has caused me to not have the mental capability that I had prior to joining the police force. I have also been severely bullied since joining the police force, and nothing has been done about it.”
The court heard him tell the operator that he was on his way to a central police station.
“The detectives are already aware,” he said to the operator.
“What … sorry?” she responded in the call replayed to the jury on Tuesday.
Lamarre-Condon said: “The detectives are already aware that I’m being driven there.”
The trial before Justice Natalie Adams continues.
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Source: www.theguardian.com
