A senior police officer who helped investigate the alleged murders of Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies has told a jury of the search for their bodies at a Bungonia farm and the discovery of two surfboard bags left near a monastery.
Warning: This article contains content some readers may find distressing.
Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to murdering the young couple on February 19, 2024, and is accused of shooting them in Mr Baird’s Paddington share house, in Sydney’s east, using his service firearm.
The 31-year-old’s lawyers will argue self-defence.
The bodies of Mr Baird and Mr Davies were found in surfboard bags eight days after the alleged murders in rural Bungonia, south of Sydney.
Jurors on Wednesday heard that prior to the discovery, police were contacted by a lawyer on behalf of a person who had been in the company of Mr Lamarre-Condon.
That person is known in the proceedings by the pseudonym Elizabeth Kennedy.
'Needle in a haystack'
Detective Senior Constable Christine Abela from the Homicide Squad told the court she took an induced statement from Ms Kennedy, which is a statement made under the agreement that what is disclosed will not be used against the person in criminal proceedings.
By this point, Mr Lamarre-Condon had handed himself in to a police station, the NSW Supreme Court previously heard.
The witness provided information including that on the afternoon of February 21, 2024, she was with Mr Lamarre-Condon in a white van for a drive to Goulburn, where they bought an axle grinder from a Bunnings store.
Ms Kennedy also provided a description of a farm, but Detective Abela said finding the property in Bungonia was “almost trying to find a needle in a haystack”, until they found a property with similar characteristics and she saw the padlock on the front gate had been cut.
The court heard police divers searched two dams in that farm and found weights, cement residue and cable ties.
The jury has previously heard Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly attempted, unsuccessfully, to sink the men’s bodies in a dam by using quick-set cement and weights along with the surfboard bags, before they were moved.
Detective Abela said she observed the wires to CCTV cameras at the property had been cut, but the property owner thought cockatoos were responsible.
The jury heard that on February 27, Detective Abela received further information about a Greek Orthodox monastery about 20 kilometres away from the farm.
'A strong smell'
The detective recalled driving there and parking in a slight alcove off the road.
“There was a strong smell as soon as I got out of the car,” she said.
“It was the scent of a decomposing body.”
On the fence line, Detective Abela said she saw two surfboard bags with sticks and branches on top of them.
Some of Mr Baird’s loved ones left the courtroom as the witness began to describe getting out of the car in the area.
Detective Abela also became emotional in the witness box, wiping her eyes as jurors left the room for the lunch break.
The Crown alleges Mr Lamarre-Condon developed a jealous infatuation with Mr Baird after previously being somewhat romantically involved with the television presenter from 2022.
He is accused of stalking Mr Baird, who the Crown says considered things casual, in the lead-up to the alleged shooting, monitoring his relationships and interfering with his phone and social media accounts.
The court has been told of two separate apparent break-ups with Mr Baird, first in April 2023 and then in November the same year, when Mr Baird requested no further contact.
The former officer’s lawyers have told the jury it was their client’s case that there were two separate struggles involving the police pistol at the Paddington terrace which resulted in the deaths.
Defence counsel John Stratton SC previously said he panicked afterwards and cleaned the scene because he knew how it would be perceived.
Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC has told jurors Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly shot Mr Baird twice in the kitchen of his home, describing the second shot as an execution-style shot, before allegedly shooting Mr Davies through a bedroom door to eliminate a witness.
The trial, before Justice Natalie Adams, is now in its third week and has an estimated duration of three months.
