‘Smitten, yes. Obsessed, no’: Lamarre-Condon denies stalking TV presenter

Accused killer Beau Lamarre-Condon has denied stalking former TV presenter Jesse Baird and misusing his authority as a police officer to obtain CCTV footage of him with another man.

During cross-examination in his Supreme Court double murder trial on Tuesday, the former NSW police officer rejected a suggestion by the prosecution that he was obsessed with Baird “right from the start”.

“Smitten, yes. Obsessed, no,” the accused said.

The 31-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murdering Baird, 26, a former Network Ten producer and presenter, and Davies, 29, a Qantas flight attendant, at Baird’s Paddington share house on February 19, 2024.

He has also pleaded not guilty to breaking into Baird’s home six months earlier on August 17, 2023, and stealing his wallet and mobile phone.

The day before the alleged break-in, Lamarre-Condon had texted Baird: “Let’s do a walk and lunch catchup after next weekend … Good seeing you [yesterday] though.”

Baird replied at 1.49pm the following day that it “was good to see you too” but did not reply to the suggestion of a catchup. The accused sent a screenshot of the messages to a friend, who described Baird’s reply as “so savage”.

Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield, SC, suggested this was “a very strong rejection of your advance to him”. Lamarre-Condon agreed that this is “how I interpreted it” but said the men spoke again that day.

“Isn’t it the case that after that … you decided that you will go and enter his property with the key that you had surreptitiously copied,” Hatfield said.

“That’s not correct, we had further communication on this day when he did invite me to stay the night,” Lamarre-Condon said.

He told the court last week that he used a key Baird left out for him that night, but put a bobby pin in the lock because he wanted to look through Baird’s phone outside while he slept.

“I wanted to see if Jesse was in a relationship [with another man] or not,” he said. “If he was to wake up and come outside, he would see the bobby pin [and] not be under the impression that it was me going through his phone.”

Baird woke up and chased him out of the home without recognising him, the court has heard, and reported the alleged break-in. NSW Police photographed a bobby pin in Baird’s front door lock.

Lamarre-Condon has told the court he met Baird in October 2022 and their relationship turned romantic in December, but they were not exclusive. Their relationship ended temporarily in April 2023 and resumed in about August or September before Baird broke up with him in November.

The accused had told the court last week that their relationship resumed in late June, but said on Tuesday that this was inaccurate and an honest mistake.

The court heard that Lamarre-Condon texted another friend two days before the alleged break-in: “I’m going to run into old mate today. Do you wanna come? Haha.”

Hatfield put to him that he framed the message “as if you know you will” run into Baird. The accused said that it was just “wishful thinking”.

He denied a suggestion by Hatfield that he knew Baird’s location and was able to monitor him on the Snapchat app. Texts tendered in court confirmed that he saw Baird later that day.

“How was it? Was it sus at all or did you make it look like a complete coincidence haha,” the friend texted. “Not sus at all,” he replied.

“This reflects that you were stalking him and monitoring his location,” Hatfield said. “I don’t agree,” Lamarre-Condon said.

The court has heard that police found CCTV footage on Lamarre-Condon’s iCloud account of Baird on a date with another man at the Royal Hotel in Paddington on May 19, 2023.

The accused said last week that he came across the footage while helping police colleagues with official duties, following a potential assault nearby. Baird had invited him to “swing by” the hotel in uniform while he was working, he said.

“Is the reality that you were stalking Jesse Baird and also misusing your authority as a policeman to access CCTV of him?” Hatfield said. “I did not,” Lamarre-Condon replied.

The accused testified on Tuesday that he went into Baird’s house using a key in about April or early May 2023, after the first break-up, and ate “an Easter egg that I had gotten Jesse”.

He said he retrieved some of his clothing and a Polaroid camera he had bought them both.

“I did not ask direct permission there and then if I could enter his house, no,” he said.

He said he recalled sending “some form of message” in advance but said that he saw Baird “jump in an Uber” that day, and he had left a key out.

The court heard that Lamarre-Condon booked a farm stay holiday for him and Baird in March 2023, after the TV presenter returned from a month-long trip to Europe.

He made a video of him and Baird that was played to the jury by the defence earlier in the trial.

“It suggests you’re a couple, and you’re in some kind of idyllic relationship, doesn’t it?” Hatfield said. “It definitely can suggest that, yes,” the accused replied.

He denied a suggestion that this was a false representation, saying that “we were in a romantic relationship at that time, but it was not exclusive”.

‘This is the channel 10 reporter guy. Had a great second date with him.’

Beau Lamarre-Condon texted a friend about Jesse Baird

The accused admitted to invading Baird’s privacy by going through his phone during the farm stay and unfollowing “two to three people” on his social media, and looking at his messages again in April.

Hatfield asked the accused if it appealed to him that Baird was a TV presenter, in light of his interest in celebrities.

“This is the channel 10 reporter guy,” Lamarre-Condon had texted a friend on December 19, 2022, with a screenshot of messages from Baird. “Had a great second date with him.”

Lamarre-Condon said he had been an entertainment reporter “when I was a teenager”.

“Jesse Baird could have been a garbage cleaner,” he said. “We actually never really talked much about his work. I wasn’t really interested in that, to be honest.”

Lamarre-Condon has testified that he went to Baird’s house on the day of the men’s deaths to collect some of his belongings – including a $25,000 Cartier ring and Casablanca shirts worth thousands – after the relationship ended.

There is no dispute Baird and Davies died of gunshot wounds from his police-issued Glock pistol, but Lamarre-Condon has said he acted in self-defence and that Baird died in a struggle while Davies accidentally shot himself.