Former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon told a court in Sydney that he was not obsessed with television presenter Jesse Baird, according to The Guardian. Lamarre-Condon gave evidence on the fourth day of the case in which he is charged with the murder of Baird and his new partner, Luke Davies.
He is charged with killing the presenter and his partner with a firearm on 19 February 2024 at Baird’s home in the Sydney suburb of Paddington. According to the indictment, the crime was committed using his official police pistol. Lamarre-Condon pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one count of aggravated break and enter.
In court before Judge Natalie Adams, prosecutor Brett Hatfield questioned Lamarre-Condon about his relationship with Baird. Lamarre-Condon said that he and Baird had been meeting in October and November 2022 for sexual encounters, and that romantic dates began in December of that year. When Hatfield asked if he had been obsessed with Baird from the start of the relationship, Lamarre-Condon replied that he had not been obsessed. "I never cared about showing Jesse off to others. I wanted Jesse to meet my friends because I thought he was genuine," he said.
Lamarre-Condon also said that he would have liked Baird even if he had been a "garbage collector". "Jesse Baird could have been a garbage collector... I liked Jesse for the person he was," he stated. Asked if he had been obsessed with Baird in February and March 2023, he answered: "I do not agree with the word 'obsessed'. Infatuated? Yes. Obsessed? No."
Hatfield presented messages Lamarre-Condon had sent to friends when the two had started dating, which read: "sounds crazy, I love him". Lamarre-Condon responded that he says "I love you" to all his friends and such people constantly, adding that this is different from being "in love" with him. He explained that his response regarding insecurity was "natural" and that he sometimes checked in when the television presenter did not immediately reply to his messages.
Lamarre-Condon also stated that he often joked with female friends, saying "we are crazy like white girls", which he described as a need to stop over-analysing and overthinking. He said he jokes and engages in "banter" with female friends, but not with heterosexual male friends. Hatfield showed screenshots of text messages between Baird and Lamarre-Condon and asked why Baird’s profile picture was of low resolution. Lamarre-Condon replied: "If you are trying to insinuate that something of this is not authentic... we have video recordings." He added that Baird’s photo was a screenshot from a video he had filmed himself.
The trial continues.
