Beau Lamarre-Condon has denied he intended to hurt Jesse Baird harm after their break-up months before the television presenter's alleged murder.
The former police officer has pleaded not guilty to murdering his former partner and Mr Baird's new boyfriend Luke Davies at a Paddington terrace home on February 19, 2024.
He maintains both men died during separate struggles over Mr Lamarre-Condon's police pistol.
He told the court he threw Mr Baird's phone off Tom Uglys Bridge days after the shootings.
"I obviously did it because I didn't want any evidence of Jesse's phone on me," he said.
After meeting around October 2022, the pair broke up once in April 2023 and again in November 2023.
He accepted that Mr Baird asked him to refrain from contacting him after their break-up.
The court has heard Mr Lamarre-Condon frequently asked his friends for advice on draft text messages he was intending to send to Mr Baird during their relationship.
In one such draft message, the former police officer describes Mr Baird as a "manipulative player" after their break-up.
"You don't need to worry about seeing me out etc because you won't exist and no further conversation needs to take place," he wrote in the message.
When asked to clarify what he meant by that, Mr Lamarre-Condon said it meant he would not "acknowledge" Mr Baird in public, not that he intended to "harm him or kill him".
He was also asked if he was performing "malevolent acts" against Mr Baird during December 2023.
"All I did was pour water in his petrol tank and that was in November," Mr Lamarre-Condon said.
He said this was in response to his belief that Mr Baird had scratched up Mr Lamarre-Condon's Tesla.
Accused was 'gaslighting' Baird
Leading up to the second and final break-up, Mr Lamarre-Condon said he wanted to check if Mr Baird was dating another man as part of an exclusive relationship.
"I didn't want to be involved in any cheating," he said.
Using the close friends Instagram function, Mr Lamarre-Condon said he posted a photo of a bouquet with a caption to "give the impression" that Mr Baird had sent the flowers.
He said he hoped the man he suspected was dating Mr Baird would see the photo and tell Mr Lamarre-Condon if their arrangement was exclusive or not.
When Mr Baird confronted him about the photo, Mr Lamarre-Condon told the court he lied and pretended the flowers were for his mother.
He accepted he also lied when Mr Baird asked if he had gone through is phone, deleted messages and blocked the man Mr Lamarre-Condon thought he was dating.
Mr Lamarre-Condon said he later told Mr Baird the truth about both incidents.
Prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC put to Mr Lamarre-Condon that he had been "gaslighting" Mr Baird.
"You could say that," Mr Lamarre-Condon replied.
'Unrequited love'
Mr Hatfield pressed him on the nature of his relationship with Mr Baird, saying the television presenter felt "fairly ambivalent and "cool" about Mr Lamarre-Condon.
"Your problem is he didn't like you anywhere near as much as you liked him," he said.
"That is not the case," Mr Lamarre-Condon replied.
Cancer claims
The court was shown another draft message written by Mr Lamarre-Condon, who asked a friend to send it to Mr Baird.
The message claimed Mr Lamarre-Condon had a cancerous tumour on his left shoulder and limb amputation was identified as the "worst case scenario".
In court Mr Lamarre-Condon said there were partial truths in the message, saying a Bondi Junction naturopath who examined his shoulder believed he had a "sporadic form of cancer".
He said he could not recall the naturopath's name and his family had been unable to track them down.
He said the naturopath recommended he get a biopsy on the lump, but Mr Lamarre-Condon said he instead sought "alternative treatment" options such as cannabis oil injections he purchased online.
Mr Hatfield put to Mr Lamarre-Condon that he "put a lot of pressure" on his friend to send the message to Mr Baird on his behalf.
"You were so desperate to get [Mr Baird] back you were prepared to do or say almost anything to get him back," he said.
Mr Lamarre-Condon rejected the suggestion.
The trial continues.
