Lamarre-Condon admits discarding Jesse Baird’s phone to destroy evidence, court hears
The former police officer told his murder trial he threw Baird’s phone from a bridge in southern Sydney, but disputed deliberately deleting messages after his arrest.
By Lorenzo Evans ·
Beau Lamarre-Condon has acknowledged throwing Jesse Baird’s phone from a Sydney bridge to destroy potentially incriminating evidence, the New South Wales supreme court heard on Thursday. The admission came during cross examination in his trial over the alleged murders of Baird and Baird’s new partner, Luke Davies.
Prosecutors allege the former police officer fatally shot both men using his police service weapon at Baird’s home in Paddington, Sydney, on 19 February 2024. Lamarre-Condon has entered not guilty pleas to two murder counts and a charge of aggravated break and enter. His evidence on Thursday came on his sixth day in the witness box.
Asked what had happened to Baird’s phone after the alleged killings, Lamarre-Condon said he had thrown the device from Tom Uglys Bridge, near the Shire in Sydney’s south. He told the court that he did not want to have Baird’s phone, or evidence of it, in his possession.
Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC questioned Lamarre-Condon about his reason for disposing of the device. Hatfield put to him that he had done so to destroy evidence on Baird’s phone that could incriminate him. Lamarre-Condon accepted that proposition, answering: “Essentially, yes”.
The questioning also covered an earlier proposal involving Lamarre-Condon’s friend Stacey Parker, who lived in Western Australia. He did not deny contacting Parker to ask whether he could send her the phone so that she could throw it into a body of water. He ultimately did not mail the device to her.
Hatfield separately questioned Lamarre-Condon about whether he had deleted messages exchanged with Baird and photographs showing the two of them together after his arrest. This part of the cross examination concerned the alleged removal of material documenting their relationship, alongside the questions about what happened to Baird’s phone.
The prosecutor put to Lamarre-Condon that he had deliberately removed that material to eliminate evidence of his relationship with Baird. Lamarre-Condon disputed the suggestion and said he did not believe he had deleted the messages. His response differed from his acknowledgment that disposing of the phone had been intended to destroy evidence.
The trial, which is being heard before Justice Natalie Adams in the New South Wales supreme court, continues.
