Covert Recording Prison Meeting Played in Sydney Murder Trial
A covert recording prison meeting between Beau Lamarre-Condon and a friend was played to a Sydney court, capturing an apology and the accused man’s account of…
SYDNEY — A covert recording prison meeting between Beau Lamarre-Condon and a friend was played to a court in Sydney on Monday, placing their conversation before the jury in a double murder trial. Lamarre-Condon, a former police officer, is accused of killing Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
The recording captured Lamarre-Condon apologising to the friend, whose identity is suppressed, and acknowledging that the friend had become involved because of him. Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter.
The conversation gives jurors a direct record of what the accused told the friend in prison, including his account of entering Baird’s home and his response to the friend’s recollection of statements about the killings.
Shortly after the recording began, Lamarre-Condon asked the friend to turn around and show he was not wearing a wire. The friend replied, “You’re so paranoid,” before telling him to calm down.
The friend said the situation Lamarre-Condon had put him in was difficult. Lamarre-Condon apologised, saying: “I fully take accountability that you’re involved because of me now,” the court heard.
The friend also said he was upset because Lamarre-Condon had called him dumb. Lamarre-Condon answered, “You’re not dumb OK,” then added that the friend was not self-aware in the way he was.
That exchange unfolded alongside a dispute over what the friend had told police. Lamarre-Condon accused him of lying in his statement and challenged his recollection that Davies had been killed to eliminate a witness. In the recording, Lamarre-Condon said he had acted in self-defence. The friend replied, “Don’t you dare switch up.”
The evidence is significant because the jury heard the accused’s own explanations as well as the friend’s account of the conversation. The recording does not resolve the charges; the court has yet to determine whether the prosecution has proved them.
Accused disputes account of entering home
Lamarre-Condon told the friend that entering Baird’s Paddington home was not break and enter because Baird had arranged for a key to be cut for him. He acknowledged entering the terrace was trespass, but said returning to a former partner’s home to collect belongings was normal.
He said he did not knock because he did not want to face an apprehended violence order, but claimed he called out hello after walking inside. The recording also captured him arguing that he could not have planned the killings: “If I had planned to do this mate, I’d be cool, calm, collected.”
He said he would have had “cleaning ready to go” and would not have used a police firearm. He also said he could have obtained another gun for $10,000.
Lamarre-Condon told the friend he had taken him to the Royal national park before the killings in early 2024 and fired his gun to test how loud the shots were. He said he had been planning to return there to take his own life and had experienced suicidal thoughts linked to trauma at work.
The friend can be heard threatening several times to leave the conversation. At one point he said, “What you’re telling me mightn’t be the truth.”
During cross-examination, Lamarre-Condon’s lawyer, John Stratton SC, suggested the friend had proposed sinking Baird and Davies’ bodies in a dam. The friend rejected that suggestion, telling the court, “I’m 100% sure it wasn’t me.”
He said he had warned Lamarre-Condon that the bodies would float, describing the warning as a scientific fact the accused could search for online.
Lamarre-Condon is accused of fatally shooting Baird and Davies with his police service weapon at Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024. He denies the murder charges and the aggravated break and enter charge.
Source: theguardian.com
