+34A jury in the Supreme Court trial of former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon has been shown crime scene photographs from Jesse Baird's Paddington terrace and a Cronulla skip bin. Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter.
A jury in the Supreme Court trial of former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon has been shown a large collection of crime scene photographs taken at key locations, including Jesse Baird's Paddington terrace and a skip bin in Cronulla.
The trial is now in its second week. Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter. He is accused of shooting Baird and Luke Davies with his police service pistol at Baird's Brown Street home in Sydney's east on 19 February 2024. His lawyers have indicated there will be a self-defence argument.
The defence says there were two separate struggles in the terrace involving the police pistol. On Wednesday, jurors saw photographs of clothing and bedding retrieved from black bin bags found in the Cronulla skip bin. The blood-stained bedding included a quilt cover, fitted sheets and a pillowcase. Police also collected a jumper, shorts, a button-up shirt and four white AFL goal umpire flags, all with blood staining.
Testing confirmed matches for the DNA profiles of both Baird and Davies. The jury was also shown photographs of a watch, wallet, identification and bank cards in Davies's name, also located in the skip bin. Many of the items were covered in blood, including a white T-shirt, jewellery and a bedsheet. The court heard police went to Baird's home after a groundskeeper found items with red staining in the bin.
Crime Scene Officer Presents Photographs
Senior Sergeant Bronwyn Lansley, a specialist crime scene officer, has been in the witness box as jurors were shown dozens of photographs from the Cronulla bin and the Brown Street terrace. They were given a floor plan of the property with markers of items mentioned in evidence. The jury was told a fired cartridge was located above a kitchen cabinet.
Photographs from the terrace showed Baird's bedroom, back courtyard and a bathroom glowing with luminol, a chemical that highlights possible blood staining. An image taken in the sub-floor beneath the bedroom, accessed by a trap-door, showed a bloodstained tarpaulin. Investigators marked areas of apparent bloodstains on a dismantled bed head and base, later matched by DNA to Davies and Baird.
Lansley told the court Baird's blood was found in the kitchen, under the kitchen, the lounge room and the bedroom, while Davies's blood was found in the bedroom and on items from the bedroom. Small areas of visible blood staining were shown on the bedroom floor. Damage to the kitchen floor in an irregular shape was consistent with a bullet hole, she said.
Referring to a photo of a misshapen and bloodstained bullet, Lansley explained it had travelled through a source of blood before penetrating the wooden flooring. A bullet hole in the door of Baird's bedroom was also shown to the court. Investigators said it was not discovered until July, two months before the trial, because it had been repaired with putty and covered with a mounting hook.
Evidence Links Accused to Dump Site
Analysis of stippling marks on the door showed nothing between the muzzle of the firearm and the door. Lansley confirmed a bloodied shoe print found on the hem of a hoodie pulled from the dumpster matched prints discovered near a monastery in Bungonia, where the bodies were eventually found. The prosecution alleges Lamarre-Condon began cleaning the crime scene immediately after the shootings before dumping the bloodied belongings at the Cronulla Bowls Club.
Lamarre-Condon immediately began cleaning up the scene because he panicked, the jury was told. The Crown alleges Lamarre-Condon stalked Baird in the lead-up to the deaths after a brief romance in 2022 and parts of 2023, which Baird regarded as more casual. The Crown says he developed an obsessive and jealous infatuation with Baird, a television presenter and AFL umpire, and would monitor his relationships with other men and interfere with his phone and Instagram.
The Crown's case is that Lamarre-Condon shot Baird twice in the kitchen. Prosecutor Mr Hatfield described the second shot as an execution-style shot which went through the floor. The Crown alleges Davies was then shot through a bedroom door as he tried to call Triple Zero, to eliminate him as a witness to Baird's alleged murder.
Prosecution Details Shooting Sequence and Motive
Lamarre-Condon is alleged to have immediately cleaned the property before unsuccessfully attempting to sink the men's bodies in a dam at Bungonia, south of Sydney. They were ultimately found near a monastery in an area about 20 kilometres away. Baird had been a TV presenter and AFL goal umpire, while Davies was a flight attendant. Defence lawyer John Stratton SC said during his opening statement that Baird and Davies were fatally shot in self-defence following struggles with the policeman.
The defence has flagged an alternative version of events, saying there were two separate struggles in the terrace with Baird and then Davies, both involving the police pistol, which resulted in the two deaths.
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Beau Lamarre-Condon Murder Trial Crime Scene Evidence Jesse Baird Luke Davies Beau Lamarre-Condon Trial Paddington Crime Scene Cronulla Skip Bin Crime Scene Photos Paddington Terrace
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