Latest / The Front / Murder victim was ‘petrified’ of cop, court hears

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Murder victim was ‘petrified’ of cop, court hears · The Front

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Kristen Amitt with
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the front's afternoon headlines. Jesse Baird was petrified of former
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: police officer Beau Lamar Condon, but feared reporting him to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: authorities because he was a cop. That's according to the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: TV presenter's ex-boyfriend, who gave evidence in Lamar Condon's double
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: murder trial on Wednesday. Lamar Condon allegedly fatally shot Baird
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and his partner, flight attendant Luke Davies, at Baird's Paddington
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  Speaker 1: home in February 2024. he's pleaded not guilty to two
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: counts of domestic violence-related murder and one count of aggravated
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: break and enter. Corey Dean Thorpe told the NSW Supreme
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  Speaker 1: Court on Wednesday he met Jesse Baird in Queensland around 2017.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: The pair were in a relationship for about five years,
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  Speaker 1: until Baird moved from Brisbane to Sydney to work on
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  Speaker 1: the now-defunct Network 10 TV show Studio 10. An emotional
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  Speaker 1: Thorpe said they stayed in touch and talked most days
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  Speaker 1: on the phone, through text messages or via social media.
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  Speaker 1: In one of those conversations in November of 2023, Thorpe
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  Speaker 1: said Baird texted him a screenshot of an Instagram story
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  Speaker 1: allegedly posted by Beau Lamar Condon. That post was a
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  Speaker 1: picture of a bunch of flowers with the caption.
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  Speaker 2: When he's in Melbourne but still sends you these.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Beau Lamar Condon's words are being read by a voice actor.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: The alleged implication was Jesse Baird had sent the flowers
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  Speaker 1: to Beau Lamar Condon while he was travelling interstate. But
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  Speaker 1: Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield told the jury in his opening
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  Speaker 1: statement on Monday Lamar Condon had actually downloaded the image
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  Speaker 1: from the internet and posted it using Instagram's close friends function.
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  Speaker 1: That meant the visibility was restricted and Baird couldn't see it.
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  Speaker 1: The jury has heard Lamar Condon later tried to tell
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  Speaker 1: Baird the post wasn't about him, but was referring to
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of flowers sent to his mother by his stepfather.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Thorpe said Baird was rattled by the situation. A voice
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: actor is reading the words spoken in court.
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  Speaker 2: He was petrified. I never heard him so scared in
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  Speaker 2: his voice before.
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  Speaker 1: Thorpe told the court Jesse Baird had confided in him
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  Speaker 1: he was scared of Beau Lamar Condon because he had
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: a gun. and was fearful of reporting Lamar Condon's alleged
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: behaviour to police because of his occupation.
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  Speaker 2: He was worried that Beau might make a false allegation
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  Speaker 2: against him and that could ruin his careers because he
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: had a blue card to work with children, which he
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: needed for Channel 10 and the AFL.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Another friend, Matthew Edwards, told the court on Wednesday Baird
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  Speaker 1: didn't know what to do about Lamar Condon's social media posts,
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  Speaker 1: suggesting the pair were in a relationship when they weren't.
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  Speaker 1: On a visit to Baird's Paddington share house in early
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  Speaker 1: February of 2024, Edwards said Baird told him he was
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  Speaker 1: relieved not to have heard from Lamar Condon in some
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  Speaker 1: time and that, by this point, Baird and Davies were
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: in a relationship. Edwards said he'd never seen his friend
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: as happy as when he was with Davies. He said, quote,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: there was something about Luke that lit Jesse up and, quote,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: they were the real deal. The Australian is covering this
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: trial live at theaustralian.com.au. And come back to the front
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: first thing in the morning for our look at a
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: huge day in the AI revolution, as Donald Trump, the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: AI giants and the Australian government go toe to toe.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: That's right here, Thursday morning.