Jesse Baird was “petrified” of Beau Lamarre-Condon because he was an armed police officer who could make a false allegation that would ruin his career, a court has heard.
Lamarre-Condon has been accused of fatally shooting Sydney couple Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29, with a police service weapon at Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.
The 31-year-old pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter.
Lamarre-Condon developed an “obsession and infatuation” with Baird, which manifested in compulsive actions during their brief relationship, the prosecution alleged.
By the time Baird decided he wanted to end things in November 2023, the behaviour had escalated.
Corey-Dean Thorpe, who had previously been in a years-long relationship with the 26-year-old and remained close friends, began sobbing in the witness box as he told the trial how Baird felt.
“He was petrified,” Thorpe told the New South Wales supreme court.
“I’d never heard him so scared in his voice before.
“He just kept repeating, ‘he has a gun’.”
Baird told Thorpe he was “extremely scared” of Lamarre-Condon because he had a gun and was a member of the police force, the court heard.
Asked by crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC if the 26-year-old had said he was scared to go to the police because Lamarre-Condon was a police officer, Thorpe agreed.
Baird was also worried Lamarre-Condon would make a false allegation against him that would “ruin his career”, Thorpe said.
Because he was a television presenter on children’s show Totally Wild and an AFL umpire, he needed a certification to work with children, the court heard.
During their relationship, Baird told Thorpe that Lamarre-Condon would go through his phone when he was asleep, find other men Baird had been talking to, and block their numbers before deleting their chats.
Damon Wilson, another man Baird was casually seeing, had to cancel their meeting in November 2023 because the TV presenter was in Melbourne for work, he told the court.
A week later, Wilson was added to Lamarre-Condon’s close friends list on Instagram. The police officer posted a photo of a bouquet to his close friends story, captioned “when he’s in Melbourne but still sends you these” with a heart-eyes emoji.
Wilson messaged Baird, who confirmed he was not in a relationship with Lamarre-Condon. Wilson said to Baird in a message: “I was a little confused why he added me to his close friends as soon as we met then starting posting photos of you guys … you getting him flowers. Glad we are on the same page”.
A week later Wilson received a protracted message from Lamarre-Condon warning him about Baird’s supposed “gaslighting”.
“He literally destroyed me,” Lamarre-Condon said in messages read to the court.
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“It took me so long to recover from all the manipulation.
“He has tried to make me look like the bad guy.”
Around this time, Baird sent messages to Thorpe asking for advice on how to break up with Lamarre-Condon.
Baird told Thorpe he was worried about what would happen when he ended things “because of the gun and because the accused had stalked and controlled him”, the prosecutor alleged.
On 3 February 2024, months after the break-up, one of Baird’s best friends, Matthew Edwards, asked if he had heard from Lamarre-Condon.
Edwards said Baird had replied: “No, thank fuck, I’m so done with him”.
“Once I move house, this will be the last piece of me that Beau knows.”
Baird confirmed his new relationship with Davies to Edwards soon after during their last phone call together.
“He was almost falling in love with him,” Edwards told the court.
“I’d never seen Jesse as happy with Luke as what I’d seen him ever. There was something about Luke that just lit Jesse up: they were the real deal.”
Lamarre-Condon’s defence team has claimed the police officer was acting in self-defence when he disguised himself as an Uber Eats driver and entered Baird’s home on 19 February.
Defence lawyer John Stratton SC argued a struggle had ensued which led to the shots that killed Davies and Baird.
The trial before justice Natalie Adams continues.
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