Beau Lamarre-Condon’s defence lawyer told the court his client went into his ex-boyfriend Jesse Baird’s house to recover some jewellery, rather than to kill him.
During opening statements on Tuesday, Lamarre-Condon’s barrister John Stratton SC said his client ‘didn’t want to go through the embarrassment’ of meeting Baird that morning.
The court heard that he waited until no one was home, and then let himself in dressed as an Uber Eats driver in case anyone came to the door.
Mr Stratton said Baird was holding a knife and didn’t recognise Lamarre-Condon because he was wearing a motorbike helmet and high-vis.
Lamarre-Condon was carrying his gun because he was trained as a police officer to never leave a gun in the car where it might be stolen, the court heard.
Mr Stratton said Baird grabbed the gun, there was a struggle, and the gun went off, fatally wounding Baird.
The gun was flung into the living room, the court heard, before Lamarre-Condon started walking down the hall while calling Triple-0.
He then came across Luke Davies, Baird’s new boyfriend, the court heard.
Lamarre-Condon grabbed Davies by the arm and pushed the gun away from himself, before Davies pulled the trigger and fatally shot himself.
Mr Stratton told the court that Lamarre-Condon never intended to harm anyone in Paddington that day, and that he acted in self-defence.
‘After that, the accused panicked, he knew it looked bad,’ Mr Stratton said.
‘He cleaned up as much as he could and threw the knife into the yard of a house on Lawson street.’
Mr Stratton also said his client never broke into Baird’s house in August 2023, but he let himself in because he had been given a key.
The court heard Lamarre-Condon took his break-up with Baird badly and ‘did stupid things, like looking through Baird’s phone and deleting messages’.
Mr Stratton said his client never threatened Baird and that there was no escalating violence.
The first witness will be called after morning tea at 11.50am.
