Lamarre-Condon denies creating fake Grindr profile for Jesse Baird
The former police officer disputed a friend's evidence about fake dating profiles while being cross-examined in his double murder trial in Sydney.
By Khalid Khalil ·
Beau Lamarre-Condon has denied creating a fake Grindr account for his former partner Jesse Baird, telling the New South Wales supreme court that an alleged conversation about making such a profile never took place. The denial came during cross-examination on Wednesday in his double murder trial.
The former police officer is accused of shooting Baird and Baird’s new partner, Luke Davies, at Baird’s home in Paddington, Sydney, on 19 February 2024. Prosecutors allege he used his police service weapon in the fatal shootings. Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to two murder counts and a charge of aggravated break and enter.
Lamarre-Condon was giving evidence for a fifth day when crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC questioned him about the dating app allegations. A friend had previously testified during the trial that Lamarre-Condon made fake profiles of Baird on apps including Grindr.
Hatfield asked whether Lamarre-Condon had told a friend that he had created a fake Grindr account relating to Baird after their breakup. Rejecting that account of the conversation, Lamarre-Condon said it had “never happened”. His response disputed the evidence the court had earlier heard from his friend.
In his testimony, Lamarre-Condon instead described an attempt to create an account connected to another man whom Baird had been seeing. He said he had entered an email address he believed belonged to that man to check whether it was active on the app. He told the court he wanted to establish whether the man was in an exclusive relationship with Baird.
Lamarre-Condon maintained that the attempt did not result in him creating or running a profile while posing as the other man. He said his purpose was to check whether the email address was available for use on the app, which he believed would indicate whether the man was using the service.
Hatfield challenged that explanation, suggesting the address entered did not belong to the man and asking whether Lamarre-Condon had created the email address himself. Lamarre-Condon said he could not confirm with complete certainty that it was the man’s address and told the court he had seen it on social media.
The trial is continuing before Justice Natalie Adams.
