Accused killer Beau Lamarre-Condon told a friend he stole then TV presenter Jesse Baird’s phone to change his Instagram settings to ensure Baird saw images of him “living his best life in Europe”, a court has heard.
Lamarre-Condon’s friend, dubbed Elizabeth Kennedy, gave evidence on Tuesday in his NSW Supreme Court trial over the alleged murders of Baird, 26, a former Network Ten producer and presenter, and Luke Davies, 29, a Qantas flight attendant, on February 19, 2024.
The former NSW police officer has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Kennedy testified that Lamarre-Condon had told her “Jesse had muted Beau’s stories on Instagram so that he couldn’t see them, and Beau was very annoyed by this, so that’s why he stole his phone and unmuted himself so that Jesse could see him living his best life in Europe”.
“When he found out he [Baird] muted him again, he called me from Monaco … and he basically said how annoyed he was that Jesse couldn’t see his stories,” Kennedy said.
The court has heard Baird and Lamarre-Condon had a casual romantic relationship that started in late 2022 and ended for the first time in April 2023, before they reconnected briefly in September.
‘Jesse had muted Beau’s stories on Instagram so that he couldn’t see them, and Beau was very annoyed by this.’
Elizabeth Kennedy
Kennedy said Lamarre-Condon had told her he would go through Baird’s phone and delete contacts and block people because he was suspicious Baird was seeing other people.
“He was trying to reach out to Jesse to get back with him [after April 2023] and it seemed that Jesse wasn’t interested, and that’s when he would try to bump into him,” Kennedy said.
“He said that he’d started tracking him on Snapchat so he knew where he was.”
Baird ended the relationship permanently in November 2023 after becoming aware of Lamarre-Condon’s efforts to discourage romantic rivals from dating him, according to the prosecution.
Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to breaking into Baird’s Paddington share house and stealing his wallet and mobile phone on August 17, 2023, during the “break” in their casual relationship. The court has heard he had returned from Europe at that time.
The court heard on Tuesday that Lamarre-Condon was with Kennedy on February 21, two days after the alleged murders, and she asked her lawyer to contact police on February 23 after becoming concerned by what she saw on the news and the accused’s behaviour.
The 15-person jury heard that Kennedy gave an induced statement to police, meaning a statement given on the condition that what was disclosed will not be used against her in any criminal proceeding.
The accused and Kennedy had met as teenagers, the court heard, but she said he “reached out” to her via Instagram after 2019.
“He had made a new Instagram [with the handle “Beaulondonn”], and he direct messaged me: ‘Hey, I think you’re on my level now. We should hang out.’”
She said she interpreted this as a reference to their “similar lifestyles” and interest in travelling, shopping and dinners. Kennedy said she was not sure how many of his posts were “real or Photoshopped”.
Kennedy said that Lamarre-Condon would use the encrypted messaging app Signal to communicate anything private to her, but he would use standard iMessages on his iPhone for other texts.
“He would send me photos of celebrities and made out that he was friends with them when he was actually just stalking them,” she said.
“If he was chasing a celebrity he’d always send me a photo on iMessage.”
‘He would send me photos of celebrities and made out that he was friends with them when he was actually just stalking them.’
Elizabeth Kennedy
Kennedy said Lamarre-Condon had been reluctant to tell her he was a police officer when they re-connected after high school because “he thought I would judge him”, but she said she already knew both of his parents were in the force.
Kennedy said Lamarre-Condon told her in 2023 that Baird was “the one” and it appeared from his Instagram that they were a couple.
“He was always worried about him seeing other people, but I thought they were official,” she said.
“He said he was a Channel Ten news presenter and that’s why he would always see him on TV and send me photos.”
The Crown alleges Lamarre-Condon killed Baird after developing an “obsessive and jealous infatuation” with him that escalated when Baird ended their relationship permanently in November 2023.
The prosecution alleges the then NSW police officer shot Davies, Baird’s new boyfriend, to eliminate a witness to his crime.
The defence case is that Lamarre-Condon entered Baird’s share house disguised as a delivery rider to retrieve some of his belongings. According to the defence, a struggle ensued in which his police gun went off twice, killing Baird, and Davies shot himself accidentally in a second struggle.
The accused had his Glock pistol with him because he was trained not to leave it unattended, the defence has said. The Crown has said he should not have had the weapon because he was not rostered to work that day.
The trial continues.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.
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