Lamarre-Condon Testifies Friend Directed Body Disposal

Former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon testified on Tuesday that he wanted to report two deaths to authorities immediately, but a friend convinced him to dispose of the bodies instead. A statement read to the court by prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC detailed the conversation that allegedly took place shortly after the defendant showed Elizabeth Kennedy the bodies in a van.

Lamarre-Condon, 31, stands trial accused of fatally shooting couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with his service weapon in Baird's Paddington home on February 19, 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one count of aggravated break and enter. His legal team has argued the pair were accidentally shot and that the defendant acted in self-defence.

Kennedy, a friend of the defendant, has been known to the court under a pseudonym. The trial heard conflicting accounts of her role in the events that followed the alleged shootings. Kennedy testified last week that she thought she was going out for lunch when the defendant picked her up two days later, and she denied helping him.

In his statement, Lamarre-Condon alleged that Kennedy 'flat-out lied to police in her statement regarding her involvement' and said he wanted to do the 'right thing' for the families. He stated that after he told her he wanted to drive to police, she replied, 'No, no, you can't. They won't believe you.'

Lamarre-Condon further alleged Kennedy said, 'This is like Taylor Swift's song, No Body, No Crime. We have to get rid of them straight away.' He stated he warned her she could face charges as an accessory to murder and would not be angry if she walked away immediately. He alleged she chose to help him because he 'would help me if I ever needed help with anything.'

The defendant alleged Kennedy assisted in carrying the bodies and pouring concrete into bags to help them sink at a farm in Bungonia. He stated that Kennedy used his pocketknife to cut holes in a surfboard cover when a bag failed to sink, which he claimed caused knife wounds on Luke Davies' leg. 'At no point did she say she didn't want to assist or have any part in it. She was a willing participant,' he said.

Kennedy offered a different account under questioning from the defendant's barrister, John Stratton SC. She said she did not willingly help sink the bodies, stating, 'I didn't know anything. I'm five foot and weigh 55 kilos so I don't think I could carry a body even if I tried.' She testified she waited at a gate while the defendant drove to a dam on the farm. She also denied Lamarre-Condon had told her Baird was dead and alleged he was the one who played the Swift song in the car.

The court also heard that Lamarre-Condon reported a psychological injury to a police assistance line on February 23, 2024, shortly before handing himself in to police at 10:37am. In a recording played to the jury, he told an operator he was suffering anxiety and 'some symptoms of schizophrenia' before asking to 'delete that whole thing.' He stated he had been exposed to trauma, destruction, and death, and had been severely bullied since joining the force with nothing done about it.

Lamarre-Condon told the operator he was on his way to a central police station and said, 'The detectives are already aware that I'm being driven there.' The operator responded, 'What .. sorry?' The trial before Justice Natalie Adams continues.