Former Sydney police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon was shown on CCTV sizing up a surfboard bag at a retail store days before the February 2024 alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies. The NSW Supreme Court trial heard prosecutors allege he planned to use the bag to dispose of Mr Baird’s body.
CCTV Footage and Store Purchases Leading Up to the Killings
Prosecutors in the New South Wales Supreme Court trial played security camera footage showing the accused police officer visiting a Decathlon store at Miranda Westfield on February 17, 2024. Accompanied by a friend, the 31-year-old walked directly to the surfboard bag section, where he ran his hands across several options before picking out a cover.
Jury shown CCTV of Beau Lamarre-Condon buying surfboard bag
The footage showed him holding the bag up against his friend’s height as the other man stood straight, with the bag clearing his friend’s head by a few centimetres. Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC told the jury that the companion, Ethan Lynch, is expected to testify that the accused asked whether he would fit inside the bag. When the friend replied probably not, Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly stated, I'll grab this one instead, it should be big enough.
Watching from the pews of the Sydney courtroom, the families of Mr Davies and Mr Baird shook their heads as the footage was played to the court.
According to receipts presented in court, the accused paid for the purchase using $90 in cash. Investigators gathered more than 14,000 hours of CCTV footage from approximately 200 locations during their investigation, as detailed by the detective in charge, Sasha Pinazza. Additional video shown to the 15-member jury included Mr Lamarre-Condon arriving and leaving Balmain Police Station the day before the incident, driving his grey Tesla, stopping at automated teller machines, and footage of Mr Lamarre-Condon collecting the alleged murder weapon from a police gun locker the day before the shootings. Other footage also showed his mother at a car rental business picking up the vehicle he would use to drive to Mr Baird’s house, alongside earlier footage of Mr Baird and Mr Davies at the Beresford in Surry Hills on the afternoon of February 18, 2024.
Disguised Surveillance Outside the Paddington Property
A pub trip with another man: court views CCTV
On the morning of February 19, 2024, security camera recordings captured the movements of the accused around the Paddington share house in Sydney’s east where 26-year-old Jesse Baird and his 29-year-old partner Luke Davies lived. Arriving in a hired Mazda shortly after 6:00 am, the senior constable parked and drove around Mr Baird’s block a couple of times before getting out undisguised and later repositioning the vehicle.
Prosecutors state that he waited several hours to observe Mr Baird’s house and make sure his housemates had left before he went in. Later footage from nearby houses showed him returning and standing in the surrounding streets for several minutes dressed in hi-vis clothing, carrying an Uber Eats paper delivery bag, and wearing a motorcycle helmet before finally entering Mr Baird’s house about 9:42 am. Audio from one CCTV recording captured three gunshots, with the first two separated by four seconds and the last 51 seconds later.
Prior Video Call and Alleged Gun Inquiry
The trial also examined events from months prior to the killings, exploring what the Crown describes as an obsessive and jealous infatuation with Mr Baird, who had twice broken things off with him and requested no further contact. A witness testifying under the pseudonym Alex Carrol told the court about an October 2023 video call during which the accused senior constable made a pistol hand gesture and whispered an inquiry regarding a firearm.
Beau Lamarre-Condon trial
Can (Robert) get me a gun?
Beau Lamarre-Condon, via witness Alex Carrol
The witness recalled responding, Why would you ask for a gun, you're in the police?
The video call request was allegedly also witnessed by Ms Carrol’s sister. Defense counsel John Stratton SC suggested during cross-examination that the women misremembered the interaction, asking whether the accused had simply inquired, Does (Robert) have a gun?
The witness maintained her original account, replying, No, he asked, ‘Can (Robert) get a gun’.
Defense Arguments and Charges Faced
Mr Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter, with the NSW Supreme Court trial in its first week. While prosecutors argue that the first shooting was premeditated, that Mr Lamarre-Condon returned to the same store shortly after the shooting to buy a second surfboard bag to conceal Mr Davies’ body, and that Mr Davies was killed while calling Triple Zero, the defense maintains that the deaths occurred during two separate violent struggles inside the Brown Street property, both involving his service pistol, and that the accused acted in self-defence.
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