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‘You won’t exist’: Inside the murder trial of ex-cop Beau Lamarre-Condon · The Front

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: From The Australian, here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: It's Tuesday, September 22, 2026. Former police officer Beau Lamar
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Condon made a last-ditch bid to plead guilty to the
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: manslaughter of his former boyfriend, Jesse Baird. But the Crown
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: rejected that and is pressing ahead with the prosecution of
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Lamar Condon for the murders of Baird and his new partner.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Luke Davies. Today, we're bringing you the words spoken in court.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Mr Lamar Condon, can you please stand?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: For the next three months, a jury in one of
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Australia's oldest courthouses will hear the murder trial of a
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: former New South Wales police officer, Beau Lamar Condon. We're
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: using voice actors throughout this episode to bring you the
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: words spoken in court.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Members of the jury, the accused Beau Lamar Condon stands
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: charged for that on or about the 17th of August
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: 2024 at Paddington in the state of New South Wales,
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  Speaker 3: did break and enter a dwelling house. namely 60 Brown Street, Paddington,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: and then in the said dwelling house, did commit a
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: serious indictable offence, namely larceny of a mobile phone and
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: wallet belonging to Jesse Baird, in circumstances of aggravation, namely
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: that he knew there was a person present within the
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: said dwelling house. He stands further charged for that on
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: the 19th of February 2024 at Paddington in the state
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  Speaker 3: of New South Wales, did murder Jesse Baird. And he
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: stands further charged for that on the 19th of February
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  Speaker 3: 2024 at Paddington in the state of New South Wales,
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  Speaker 3: did murder Luke Davies. To these charges, the accused has
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: pleaded not guilty.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Bolimar Condon, wearing a pale grey suit, sat down and
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: faced the 15 men and women who will decide his fate.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: The ultimate verdict will have to be a unanimous decision.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Made by 12 of the jurors.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: But for now, the court has empanelled some extras in
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: case anyone falls ill during the trial. It will be
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: a long and gruelling trial featuring scores of witnesses. Lamar
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Condon doesn't have to say or do anything. The burden
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: of proof is on the Crown to prove to the jury,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: beyond reasonable doubt, that he is guilty. Before Justice Natalie Adams,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Senior Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC on Monday put his
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: opening address to the jury. On Tuesday, Defence Barrister John
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Stratton SC will have his say and and then the
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Crown will begin calling its witnesses. Here are the words
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: spoken on Monday by Prosecutor Brett Hatfield.
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  Speaker 4: The accused, when he was arraigned earlier today, indicated that
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: he pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: of Jesse Baird. He's entitled to enter the plea in
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: those terms, but it's not accepted by the Crown. As
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: I say, the only charge on the indictment is murder.
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  Speaker 4: On 19 February 2024... The accused, Beaumont Lamar Condon, set
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: his alarm for 4.30am. He sent a message to his friend,
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  Speaker 4: which read.
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  Speaker 6: I'll try to call you tonight and update you, X.
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: Don't worry about me, though, X. There's no sign I'm
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: doing it.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Hatfield told the jury Beau Lamar Condon switched off his
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: mobile phone, fired up a new device and left home
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: in his grey Tesla around 5am. The Crown says the
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: then police officer drove to a so-called staging area in
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Kensington in Sydney's eastern suburbs, where he got into a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Mazda rented in his mother's name a day earlier. Then
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: prosecutors say Lamar Condon parked the Mazda near Jessie Baird's
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  Speaker 2: home in Paddington and waited for Baird's housemates to leave
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: as the sun came up, moving the vehicle into the
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: space vacated by.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: One of them.
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  Speaker 2: Hatfield said Lamar Condon could be seen on CCTV around
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  Speaker 2: 9am on dressed as a food delivery driver, an alleged
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: disguise complete with helmet, high-vis and a brown paper bag.
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  Speaker 4: He was carrying somewhere his NSW Police Service Glock 22
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: semi-automatic pistol. In it, on the crown case, he had
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: replaced at least some of his operational federal brand hollow
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: point bullets with another make, spear, full metal jacket or
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: total metal jacket,. 40 calibre. He spent further time staring
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: at the premises while he was outside. Eventually he entered, armed.
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  Speaker 4: The crown case is that he opened the door using
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  Speaker 4: a key that he'd previously stolen from Mr Baird or
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  Speaker 4: secretly copied. Once inside, he went down the hall and
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: through the lounge room. He went to the kitchen and
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  Speaker 4: killed Jesse Baird, shooting him twice. Once through the right
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  Speaker 4: base of the neck near his shoulder and out through
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  Speaker 4: his jaw. Once in the right temple and exiting the
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  Speaker 4: left temple. The Crown case is that this second shot
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  Speaker 4: was an execution-style shot and went through the floor. Luke
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: Davies was in Baird's bedroom and attempted to call 000.
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  Speaker 4: The accused on the Crown case, in order to prevent
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: Davies from calling for help and exposing his crime, shot
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  Speaker 4: Davies in the head through the door of the bedroom.
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  Speaker 4: It was nearly an hour later until the accused left
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  Speaker 4: 60 Brown Street. The Crown case is that, consistent with
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: the plan being to murder Jesse Baird, the accused immediately
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: began to clean up the crime scene and to prepare
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: to dispose of the bodies. Although this was now complicated
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: by the fact that he had two rather than one
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: body to deal with. Over the next four days, the
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: accused would return to Brown Street multiple times and engage
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: in an elaborate series of acts, seeking assistance from a
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  Speaker 4: number of his friends to clean up the crime scene,
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  Speaker 4: destroy evidence and dispose of the two men he had
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: just killed. and to try and make it look like
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: they had just disappeared.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Hatfield told jurors the breakdown of a relationship between Jesse
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  Speaker 2: Baird and Bolimar Condon was the alleged killer's motive.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: In late 2022, the accused met Jesse Baird. They formed
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: a romantic and sexual relationship, albeit one that was somewhat
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: casual from the perspective of Jesse Baird, who had recently
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: come out of a five-year relationship.
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  Speaker 2: The Crown said 26-year-old Baird was in the process of
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: moving out of the house at 60 Brown Street in
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Paddington at the time of his death. He was also
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: preparing to start a new job after the Network 10
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: show he was working on, Studio 10, was axed. Hatfield
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: told the jury there was a disconnect between Jesse Baird
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  Speaker 2: and Bo Lamar Condon regarding the nature of their relationship,
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  Speaker 2: and that triggered Lamar Condon to exhibit intrusive, obsessive and
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  Speaker 2: impulsive behaviour.
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  Speaker 4: You'll hear evidence that the accused admitted to a number
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: of people that he, on a number of occasions, surreptitiously
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  Speaker 4: accessed Baird's phone so that he could monitor whether Baird
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: was exchanging messages with other men. The accused also admitted that,
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: when he accessed Jesse Baird's phone, he would delete messages
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: from people he believed to be romantic rivals and would
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: block those people from contacting Baird, including on social media apps.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Hatfield said the relationship ended in mid-April 2023 when Jesse
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Baird sent the former cop a long and heartfelt explanation
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: for his decision not to pursue a serious relationship via text.
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  Speaker 7: I wish I was ready for a relationship because it's
• 7:43
  Speaker 7: not every day a guy like you comes around. I
• 7:46
  Speaker 7: guess deep down I know that I need to take
• 7:48
  Speaker 7: the time to work on myself and it wouldn't be
• 7:50
  Speaker 7: fair to you or I to start a relationship.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: He said the Crown will introduce evidence that showed Lamar
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Condon began following Jesse Baird and allegedly watched him being
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: intimate with other men through the windows of the Paddington home.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: He allegedly used his position as a police officer to
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: obtain CCTV of Baird on a date at a pub
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: in Paddington and also allegedly stole a key to the house.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: In September 2023, the relationship briefly rekindled, but Hatfield said
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: from Jesse Baird's point of view, it was just casual.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Hatfield said Lamar Condon invited Baird on a trip to
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Bali over New Year's and that Baird initially agreed. Lamar
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Condon allegedly purchased tickets, but the pair never took the trip.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Around this time, the Crown says, Jesse Baird discovered Bo
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Lamar Condon had been accessing his phone. In November 2023,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: another interaction prompted Jesse Baird to end things. Brett Hatfield
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: told the jury Lamar Condon posted on Instagram a photo
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: with the caption.
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  Speaker 6: when he's in Melbourne, but still sends you these.
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  Speaker 2: The photo was of a large floral arrangement, which Hatfield
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: said Lamar Condon had actually downloaded from the internet. Hatfield
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: said the photo was posted using Instagram's close friends function,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: so Baird couldn't see it, but others whom Lamar Condon
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: considered romantic rivals could. Baird was in Melbourne, but he
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: hadn't sent any flowers. And when he confronted Lamar Condon,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: according to Hatfield, the accused told him it was a mix-up.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: The flowers were sent by Lamar Condon's stepfather to his mother.
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: In the Crown case, the accused then rushed to a
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  Speaker 4: florist and asked the florist to make a bouquet to
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: match the flowers from the photograph and then wrote a
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: fake note in the voice of his stepfather to match
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  Speaker 4: to the story that he had invented concerning it being
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: for his mother.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Jesse Baird sent Lamar Condon a message.
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  Speaker 7: Beau, I'm not going to get into an argument with you.
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  Speaker 7: I'm honestly so exhausted. On top of that, I feel
• 9:53
  Speaker 7: hurt and I feel like I'm being lied to. I
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  Speaker 7: think it's best if we focus on ourselves and stop
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  Speaker 7: seeing each other.
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  Speaker 5: In November, after Lamar Condon allegedly saw Baird in Paddington
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: with another man, he sent him what he said was
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: his last message.
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  Speaker 2: Prosecutor Brett Hatfield read excerpts of the message to the court.
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: You're a manipulative player. This will be my last message
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  Speaker 6: to you ever, and it is going to be brutal.
• 10:23
  Speaker 6: The Crown says Lamar Condon kept monitoring Baird's Instagram despite
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: being blocked and then manufactured a message purportedly from a
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: friend that said, falsely, that Lamar Condon's behaviour was due
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: to medication he was taking for a cancer diagnosis.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Brett Hadfield told the jury Lamar Condon has never been
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: diagnosed with cancer. On New Year's Eve in 2023, Baird
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: met 29-year-old flight attendant Luke Davies. They began falling in
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: love and Baird posted about his new man on Instagram.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Coming up, more of Brett Hatfield's opening statement.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: MUSIC Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield told the jury the death
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: of Luke Davies means there are no witnesses to what
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: occurred inside the Paddington property in February 2024. That means
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: the Crown's case is wholly circumstantial. Hatfield listed preparatory steps
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Lamar Condon allegedly made for the murders. He said Lamar
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Condon asked if the partner of one of his childhood
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: friends could help him obtain a firearm, purchased a burner
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: phone under a fake name, investigated purchasing a silencer, and
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: bought a surfboard cover in preparation for disposing of Jesse
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Baird's body. He allegedly stole police training bullets, carried out
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: shooting practice, and asked colleagues if there was a way
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: to prevent police from following up reports of gunshots. On
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: February 18 of 2024, Lamar Condon worked at a so-called
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: User Pays event in Paddington. That's not an official police shift.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: It's where event organisers can hire cops as security. On
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: that day, Lamar Condon pretended to return his police firearm
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: to the secure gun room at Balmain Police Station, but actually,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: according to Hatfield, kept it in his possession. Hatfield said
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: after the alleged murders, Bo Lamar Condon returned to the
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Paddington Terrace multiple times to clean up and dispose of
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Baird's belongings. He returned the gun to the police station
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: at Balmain and and sent messages from Jesse Baird's phone
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: to create the impression he was still alive and travelling interstate. And, ultimately,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Hatfield said Lamar Condon attempted to sink Jesse Baird and
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Luke Davies' bodies into a dam near the small New
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: South Wales town of Bungonia.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: As the accused carried out his work, he sought help
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: from a number of friends. In doing so, he made
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: important admissions to them about his conduct.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: The Australian is covering this trial live.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: You can follow it and all the best in Australian
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: and world news, sport, politics and business at theaustralian.com.au.