Beau Lamarre-Condon was seen sizing up a surfboard bag used to dispose of a victim days before the police officer murdered two men, prosectors have alleged in a Sydney court, with chilling CCTV footage shown to the jury. Months earlier, the 31-year-old had asked a friend over a video call to help him obtain something, and then formed a gun gesture with his hand, the NSW supreme court trial heard on Thursday. Lamarre-Condon has been accused of fatally shooting Sydney couple Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29, with his police service weapon at Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.
The 31-year-old earlier this week pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter. CCTV footage taken from Miranda Westfield on 17 February was played to the NSW supreme court trial on Thursday showing Lamarre-Condon’s movements before the alleged murders. In the compilation, Lamarre-Condon’s grey Tesla is seen passing by the shopping centre before the police officer and a friend enter a Decathlon store.
The pair walk straight to the surfboard bag section, where Lamarre-Condon runs his hands across the options before picking out a cover. He holds it up and appears to measure it against his friend’s height as the other man stands straight. The bag clears his friend’s head by a few centimetres.
Watching from the pews of the Sydney courtroom, Davies and Baird’s family shook their heads as the footage was played. During the prosecution’s openings on Monday, crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC alleged Lamarre-Condon asked his friend whether he would fit in the bag. In the footage, Lamarre-Condon takes the bag to the cashier and pays for it using $90 in cash, according to receipts shown to the court.
Two days later, the police officer would allegedly shoot the two men and place Baird in the bag bought from the Westfield, the prosecution alleged. Lamarre-Condon returned to the same store shortly after the shooting to buy a second surfboard bag to conceal Davies’ body, Hatfield said. More than 14,000 hours of CCTV footage was obtained from 200 locations during the police investigation, the detective in charge, Sasha Pinazza, told the court.
Other videos played to the jury on Thursday showed Lamarre-Condon collecting the alleged murder weapon from a police gun locker the day before the shootings, and his mother at a car rental business picking up the vehicle he would use to drive to Baird’s house. In footage from the morning of the alleged crime, the police man is seen walking in the vicinity of Baird’s home before CCTV from a neighbouring house captures the sound of three gunshots. The audio had been played during the crown’s opening remarks on Monday.
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