Jesse Baird, Luke Davies shot during gun 'struggle' with murder accused, court hears

Accused double murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon did not plan to kill or harm Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, and his attempts to conceal their deaths were "not the actions of a man who believed he was guilty of murder", a jury has been told.

The 31-year-old former police officer is accused of murdering Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29, with a police firearm at Baird's home in Paddington in Sydney's inner-east on 19 February 2024.

Lamarre-Condon's barrister John Stratton told the court it was not in dispute that his client was "very upset" and did "some stupid things" after a breakup with Baird in November 2023, including "looking through the phone of Jesse Baird … and deleting text messages" from other men.

But the defence case will argue that the accused acted in self-defence during a "struggle" over a gun.

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Stratton told the court his client came to Baird's home to retrieve belongings and, to avoid "embarrassment" of facing Baird in person, had "disguised himself … so he could masquerade as being a delivery person in case someone unexpectedly opened the door".

He argued the accused entered Baird's home on the day of the alleged murders with "a key provided to him" and "had a gun with him because he was a police officer … and could not leave a gun unattended".

Stratton said the defence will argue that, when inside the home, Lamarre-Condon and Baird "struggled … and the gun was flung into the lounge room" and Baird was shot during the struggle.

The defence will argue that Davies then appeared and, in another struggle, the accused "pushed the gun away from himself … Luke Davies pulled the trigger and shot himself".

"[He] bought some cleaning products … surfboard bags … drove to the property at Bungonia and tried to sink the bodies … later returned and buried the bodies at a Greek monastery.

"These are not the actions of a man who believed he was guilty of murder … but a man who had panicked considerably and knew the gravity of the situation he was in."

Stratton told the jury this was further evidenced by Lamarre-Condon informing the police of where they would find the bodies, nearly a week after Baird and Davies were killed.

Earlier on Tuesday, Crown barrister Brett Hatfield continued opening remarks on the second day of the trial.

Hatfield took the jury through a detailed timeline of events from the morning of the murders to the accused turning himself in to police and eventually revealing the location of the bodies, eight days later.