Officer Claims Friend Directed Body Disposal

Beau Lamarre-Condon told a jury on Tuesday that a friend urged him to dispose of two bodies immediately, contrary to his initial desire to report the deaths to police. The 31-year-old former police officer is currently facing trial on two murder counts and one charge of aggravated break and enter.

Prosecutors allege that Lamarre-Condon fatally shot Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with a service weapon inside Baird's home in Paddington on February 19, 2024. The defense team maintains that the shootings were accidental and that Lamarre-Condon acted in self-defense. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

A friend identified in court as Elizabeth Kennedy testified last week that she believed she was meeting Lamarre-Condon for lunch. She stated that she did not know the extent of his involvement and claimed she did not assist in moving the bodies. Her testimony directly conflicts with the statement read into evidence on Tuesday.

Lamarre-Condon’s statement, delivered by prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC, describes a sequence of events following the alleged murders. He claimed that he picked up Kennedy two days after the shootings and showed her the bodies in the back of a van. According to the statement, Lamarre-Condon began to cry and suggested driving straight to the police station.

The statement alleges that Kennedy rejected this plan. She reportedly told him that police would not believe the story. Lamarre-Condon quoted her as saying, "No, no, you can’t. They won’t believe you. This is like Taylor Swift’s song, No Body, No Crime. We have to get rid of them straight away."

Lamarre-Condon stated that he warned Kennedy she could be charged as an accessory to murder. He alleged that she agreed to help because he would assist her in the future. During the drive, she played the referenced Taylor Swift song on her phone and laughed at the situation. The statement says she helped carry the bodies to a farm in Bungonia and poured concrete into bags to help them sink.

The former officer claimed that Kennedy used his pocketknife to cut holes in the surfboard covering one of the bodies when the bag would not sink. He stated that this action caused knife wounds to the leg of Luke Davies. Lamarre-Condon noted that she did not express any desire to leave or stop assisting during the process.

Kennedy, testifying under a pseudonym, denied these claims during her examination last week. She stated that she waited at a gate while Lamarre-Condon drove to a dam on the property. She argued that her height of five feet and weight of 55 kilos made it physically difficult for her to carry a body. She also disputed Lamarre-Condon's account of who played the music, asserting that he was the one who selected the song.

On February 23, 2024, Lamarre-Condon contacted a police assistance line to report a psychological injury. A recording of that call was played for the jury. He told the operator he was suffering from anxiety and symptoms of schizophrenia. He stated that exposure to trauma and bullying had affected his mental capability. He asked the operator to delete the record of the call.

Lamarre-Condon told the operator that detectives were already aware of his situation and that he was being driven to a central police station. He handed himself into police custody that morning at 10:37 am. The trial is proceeding before Justice Natalie Adams.