‘Hey hun’: police colleague messaged Beau Lamarre-Condon on Instagram after alleged murders, court hears
Trial hears accused told police he wasn’t ‘avoiding them’ in three-minute call before he turned himself in after allegedly murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies
A police officer accused of a double murder told police he was not avoiding them despite vanishing for days after the incident, a Sydney court has heard.
The court heard police attempted to contact Beau Lamarre-Condon after the alleged murders, with a colleague messaging him on Instagram: “Hey hun … can you please contact the crime manager at eastern suburbs asap when you get a chance?”
Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to murdering his ex partner Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in an inner-city terrace on 19 February 2024.
Police tried unsuccessfully to contact him for four days before he turned himself in, the court heard.
He then led officers to a rural property where the bodies of both men, who were aged in their 20s, were found in surfboard bags.
“I just either want to let a detective or a sergeant know I am not avoiding them,” the 31-year-old said during a three-minute phone call to police on 22 February.
“Just tell them I will come in tomorrow.”
The evidence was heard during a New South Wales supreme court jury trial on Thursday as prosecutors read a statement by the officer who took the call, Const Kye Richards.
The morning before the alleged murders, Lamarre-Condon messaged a friend – known by the pseudonym Fiona Rosso – not to worry about him and that he would call later.
“Also I’ve just gotten rid of all social media,” he wrote.
He turned up to Rosso’s home three days after the alleged murders crying and saying he had “done something bad”, the jury heard on Wednesday.
Lamarre-Condon told her police had tried to contact him but he had put his phone on aeroplane mode.
Armed with two buckets, he scrubbed blood from the back of a white van parked outside Rosso’s home, the jury heard.
He then spent the night there before driving to Sydney.
Rosso testified Lamarre-Condon’s mother texted him the code word “hot chocolate”, meaning police had searched her home after the alleged murders.
A statement by Const Hayley Keefe was read on Thursday outlining attempts by NSW police to contact her colleague and friend.
She was asked by a crime manager to contact Lamarre-Condon on his personal Instagram account.
On 21 February, she followed through.
“Hey hun … can you please contact the crime manager at eastern suburbs asap when you get a chance?” she wrote.
The message remained unread and she deleted it, feeling awkward for using her personal social media for business, she wrote in her statement.
The crown alleges Lamarre-Condon killed Baird “execution-style” at close range through a plan borne of a jealous obsession, before shooting Davies to eliminate a witness.
The 31-year-old claims he acted in self-defence after entering the terrace to retrieve his belongings.
His offer to plead guilty to Baird’s manslaughter was rejected by prosecutors.
The trial before Justice Natalie Adams continues.
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Source: www.theguardian.com
