Murder accused former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon trial begins

The trial of a former police officer accused of murdering Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies begins today. It is alleged Beau Lamarre-Condon shot the pair with his service firearm inside Mr Baird's shared terrace in Sydney's east in 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of domestic violence-related murder and one of aggravated break and enter. Two-and-a-half years after the deaths of Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, the trial of a former police officer accused of their murder will begin today in the NSW Supreme Court. Beau Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to two counts of domestic violence-related murder and one of aggravated break and enter. It is alleged he shot the pair with his service firearm inside Mr Baird's shared terrace at Paddington, in Sydney's east, in February 2024. The break and enter offence is alleged to have occurred at the Paddington property in August the previous year. Mr Lamarre-Condon, now 31, was charged days after NSW Police issued a public appeal for information to locate the young couple, who had last been seen at a pre-Mardi Gras party. It was not until the following week that their bodies were found at a rural area in Bungonia, nearly 200 kilometres south-west of Sydney's CBD, in surf bags. Mr Baird was a television presenter for Channel Ten, while Mr Davies worked for Qantas as a flight attendant. The case deeply impacted families and wider friendship circles, and sent shock waves through the LGBT community. When police appealed for information about the pair's disappearance, items including personal possessions had been found in a bin at Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire. The trial, being heard at Sydney's King Street Courts before Justice Natalie Adams, has an estimated duration of three months. Jurors are likely to hear from dozens of witnesses. Today, the court is expected to complete the process of empanelling a jury from a wider jury pool, before Crown Prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC makes an opening address.