Police officer tells jury friend urged him to hide two bodies

Beau Lamarre-Condon told a Sydney jury on Tuesday that a friend encouraged him to get rid of two bodies immediately instead of calling the police. The 31 year old former officer is on trial for the double murder of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.

Lamarre-Condon shot Baird and Davies in Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024. He used his service weapon to kill both men. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter.

The defendant’s statement contradicts the testimony of his friend, identified in court as Elizabeth Kennedy. She took the stand last week and said she thought they were going out for lunch when he picked her up two days after the shootings. She denied helping him hide the bodies.

“I didn’t know anything,” Kennedy told the court. She added that she waited at a gate while Lamarre-Condon drove to a dam at a farm in Bungonia. She also disputed that she helped sink the bodies in bags filled with concrete.

Lamarre-Condon’s version of events differs sharply. He alleged that Kennedy told him, “No, no, you can’t. They won’t believe you. This is like Taylor Swift’s song, No Body, No Crime. We have to get rid of them straight away.” He claimed she played the song in the van and laughed at the situation.

According to the statement read by prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC, Lamarre-Condon warned Kennedy she could be charged as an accessory. He said she agreed to help because he would help her in return. He alleged she used his pocketknife to cut holes in a surfboard cover, which caused knife wounds to Luke Davies’ leg.

Lamarre-Condon reported a psychological injury to a police line at 10.37 am on 23 February 2024 before turning himself in. In a recording played to the jury, he mentioned anxiety and symptoms of schizophrenia. He told the operator, “The detectives are already aware that I’m being driven there.”

The trial is presided over by Justice Natalie Adams. Lamarre-Condon’s legal team argues the shootings were accidental and that he acted in self defence. The jury continues to hear evidence from the case.