Beau Lamarre-Condon told police he was “not avoiding them” during a brief phone call made days after he allegedly killed Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, a jury has heard.
The former police officer, 31, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the two men at an inner-city terrace on 19 February 2024. Police had been unable to contact him for four days before he surrendered.
Constable Kye Richards’ account of the three-minute call was read to the New South Wales Supreme Court on Thursday. Lamarre-Condon said: “I just either want to let a detective or a sergeant know I am not avoiding them.”
“Just tell them I will come in tomorrow,” he added.
Lamarre-Condon later directed officers to a rural property, where the bodies of Mr Baird and Mr Davies, both in their 20s, were found inside surfboard bags.
The jury previously heard that he appeared at the home of a friend, known by the pseudonym Fiona Rosso, three days after the alleged killings. He was crying and said he had “done something bad”.
Ms Rosso told the court that Lamarre-Condon said police had tried to contact him, but that he had switched his phone to aeroplane mode. He then used two buckets to scrub blood from the rear of a white van outside her home, before spending the night there and driving to Sydney.
The morning before the alleged murders, Lamarre-Condon had messaged Ms Rosso telling her not to worry about him and saying he would call later. He also wrote: “Also I’ve just gotten rid of all social media.”
A statement from Constable Hayley Keefe, a police colleague and friend of Lamarre-Condon, was also read to the jury. She said a crime manager had asked her to contact him through his personal Instagram account.
On 21 February, she sent: “Hey hun … can you please contact the crime manager at eastern suburbs asap when you get a chance?” The message was not read, and Constable Keefe later deleted it because she felt awkward about using her personal social media for police business.
Ms Rosso also told the court that Lamarre-Condon’s mother sent him the code word “hot chocolate”, meaning police had searched her home after the alleged murders.
The Crown alleges Lamarre-Condon shot Mr Baird at close range in an “execution-style” killing driven by jealousy, before killing Mr Davies to remove a witness. He says he acted in self-defence after entering the terrace to retrieve his belongings.
Prosecutors rejected his offer to plead guilty to manslaughter over Mr Baird’s death. The trial continues.
