A greenkeeper has told the Sydney murder trial of former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon that he found personal belongings, including brand new AFL shorts and a Qantas card, in a dumpster two days after the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty to murdering AFL umpire Baird and flight attendant Davies. He is accused of fatally shooting the couple with his police service weapon in Baird's Paddington home on 19 February 2024. He has also pleaded not guilty to one charge of aggravated break and enter.
Greenkeeper's discovery in skip bin
The prosecution has alleged Lamarre-Condon began cleaning up the crime scene immediately after the shootings, before dumping items in a skip bin at the Cronulla Bowls Club. A statement from Craig Scott, a greenkeeper at the club, was read out in the New South Wales supreme court on Tuesday.
Scott detailed how he and a co-worker discovered the belongings after arriving at work on 21 February 2024 and noticing the lid of the skip bin was propped open with rubbish. “I saw several black plastic bin bags – I definitely remember those bags were not there the day before,” Scott said in the statement read to the jury.
“I opened one of the bags and removed [a] piece of brown clothing … it had red stains on it – it looked like dried blood to me. [We] both thought something suspicious had gone on.”
Police visit to Baird's home
As they searched the bin, Scott and his co-worker found a silver watch, a leather pouch and a Qantas ID card. Wooden drawers, various shoes, clothing and AFL shorts – still in their plastic packaging – were also discovered.
Hours after the contents of the skip bin were reported, two detectives travelled to Baird's home, the court heard. Body-worn camera footage from the visit was played to the jury on Monday and released on Tuesday. The video showed the officers being met at the door by three cleaners, who had been hired by a housemate because Baird was due to move out that week.
Using Google Translate to communicate with the Portuguese-speaking cleaners, the police asked to look around before telling them to “stop cleaning”. “You're not in trouble,” an officer says in the video shown to the court. “But we're just now to declare this a crime scene. We've just got information that there might be some evidence for us.”
Evidence and trial continues
Members of the police crime scene investigation team later attended the Paddington terrace. The jury on Tuesday was shown more than 200 photos from the investigation, including of walls, flooring and a fired bullet with traces of blood.
Sen Sgt Bronwyn Lansley told the court the bullet travelled through a source of blood before penetrating the wooden flooring. An image taken from the area beneath the house showed a “significant amount of blood has flowed down the joist and saturated the timber”, she said on Tuesday.
Defence lawyer John Stratton SC said during his opening statement that Baird and Davies were fatally shot in “self-defence” following struggles with the policeman. Lamarre-Condon immediately began cleaning up the scene because he “panicked”, the jury was told. The trial before Justice Natalie Adams continues.
