Teary detective recalls smell of cop’s alleged victims
Tom Wark |
A detective has broken down in court while describing the moment she found the bodies of two men allegedly murdered by former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon.
Jesse Baird, 26, and his new boyfriend Luke Davies, 29, were shot dead in a Sydney terrace in February 2024.
Lamarre-Condon, Mr Baird’s ex and a then-police officer, has pleaded not guilty to murder, arguing the men died in two separate violent struggles after he entered the home disguised as a food delivery rider.
His subsequent efforts to dispose of their bodies at Bungonia – 200km south of Sydney – were indicative of his panic about the unexpected deaths, his lawyer has said.
A detective who co-ordinated a search of Cella Farm, where Lamarre-Condon allegedly tried to unsuccessfully sink the bodies in a dam, told the alleged murderer’s trial how she eventually found the remains of the two slain men eight days after the shooting.
Detective Senior Constable Christine Abela had been involved in searching the farm before she was diverted to a Greek monastery about 20km away on February 27.
“There was a strong smell as soon as I got out of the car,” she told a NSW Supreme Court jury on Wednesday.
“The scent of a decomposing body.”
The detective became emotional as prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC took her through her memories of the odour becoming stronger as she approached two blue and silver surfboard bags.
The bags were covered with sticks, branches and stones, the detective said.
At Cella Farm, crime scene officers discovered a padlock had been cut, the jury heard.
Prosecutors allege the lock was cut with an angle grinder Lamarre-Condon had asked his friend to buy on the drive from Sydney.
Concrete blocks and gym weights were found at the edge of a dam on the farm, the jury was told.
The prosecution alleges Lamarre-Condon became violently infatuated with Mr Baird after they broke off contact in November 2023, resolving to murder him.
However, Lamarre-Condon’s close friend Nicole Harvell told the court on Wednesday she could not remember any conversation with the ex-officer about Mr Baird after the pair broke up for the final time.
That was despite her being in almost daily contact with the now-31-year-old.
Senior Constable Harvell recalled trying to contact her friend when she saw media reports that he was under suspicion for the two men’s deaths.
“F*** Beau, are you ok?” she texted to Lamarre-Condon’s phone.
She never received a reply.
The sworn officer maintained under cross-examination the accused killer had months earlier told her about enlisting his mother to help him lie to Mr Baird.
Lamarre-Condon posted an Instagram story with a bunch of flowers and the caption: “When he’s in Melbourne but still sends you these.”
But publication was restricted to select friends that did not include Mr Baird.
The photo was designed to imply Mr Baird sent flowers to the accused, despite the pair not being in a relationship at the time, Sen Const Harvell said.
When Mr Baird discovered the ruse, Lamarre-Condon spent $160 on a bouquet identical to the photo to lie to Jesse, the officer’s friend said.
Lamarre-Condon then sent a photo to Mr Baird showing his mother with the fresh bouquet.
The bouquet had a handwritten note to imply his mother had been the intended recipient and they were from her partner, who was in Melbourne, the jury heard.
“I recall the accused telling me his mother had written that note,” Sen Const Harvell said.
The trial continues.
AAP