‘Not everything in the news is true’: Beau Lamarre-Condon’s call after alleged murders

Beau Lamarre-Condon told a friend “not everything in the news is true” in a phone call after his arrest over the alleged murders of a Sydney couple, a jury has been told.

The former police officer is accused of murdering Jesse Baird and his new boyfriend, Luke Davies, at the TV presenter’s Paddington home on February 19, 2024.

Mr Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty and is arguing self-defence before a jury trial in the NSW Supreme Court.

He handed himself into police on February 23 and was arrested and charged shortly afterwards.

An old friend of his, NSW Police Senior Constable Dayna Schagen, on Monday told the jury she received a call from an unknown number about 9pm on March 28, 2024.

When the person on the other end said “It’s Beau”, she said “What the f**k, why are you calling me?” the jury was told.

“Did the accused say, ‘I just wanted to tell you that I love you and before you do anything you need to know not everything in the news is true, it’ll come out in court?’” Crown prosecutor Caitlin Diggins asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

The jury was told Constable Schagen said to him, “You killed two people, why would you think I would ever want to speak to you again?” before hanging up on him and making a statement to police shortly afterwards.

The call came from a mobile phone number registered to another friend of Mr Lamarre-Condon, jurors heard.

By this stage Constable Schagen had already made a statement to police about a conversation she had with Mr Lamarre-Condon on February 14 that year, in which he allegedly asked her if police would still respond to reports of gunshots if another officer called in to say it was just fireworks.

“That was the last thing we said to each other,” Constable Schagen told the jury.

About a week later on February 22, she saw reports Mr Baird and Mr Davies were missing and that Mr Lamarre-Condon was suspected of being involved.

“Dude I just saw Jesse is missing, is he OK? Have you spoken to him?...What the f**k is going on?” Constable Schagen allegedly messaged him.

The next day she messaged him asking “Where the f**k are you?” and “What’s all this sh*t in the media, what’s going on?”, with Constable Schagen telling the jury Mr Lamarre-Condon read the messages but did not respond.

‘Savage’ reply after text

Constable Schagen recalled Mr Lamarre-Condon telling her on August 17, 2023 that he had run into Mr Baird and later messaged him asking to catch up, with the TV presenter replying it was “good to see you” but not responding about meeting up.

The woman told Mr Lamarre-Condon “OMG I’m dying that’s so savage”, telling the jury she thought it was pretty clear Mr Baird had no interest in catching up with the former officer.

It is alleged Mr Lamarre-Condon broke into Mr Baird’s home that night with a key he stole and then shoved a bobby pin in the door to make it look as though it had been picked.

Days later on August 21, he messaged Constable Schagen and told her Mr Baird’s phone had been stolen during a home invasion.

“Yes I did hear back from him - he had a home invasion so he couldn’t text me as his phone got stolen but we are catching up Wednesday night for dinner... He said he full chased after the guy too,” Mr Lamarre-Condon sent in a text, the jury was told.

“Did the accused tell you that he was the person Jesse had to chase out?” Ms Diggins asked Constable Schagen.

“No,” she replied.

The former officer does not dispute he entered the TV presenter’s home, but claims he used a key Mr Baird gave him, the jury was told.

Friend ‘mortified’

Constable Schagen also told the jury how the former officer told her he “f**ked up” after he was “caught out” going through Mr Baird’s phone and blocking a man the journalist was dating in November 2023.

She thought Mr Lamarre-Condon was “ashamed of his behaviour”, and “angry” Mr Baird was apparently sleeping with other people, the jury was told.

“I remember I said to him that I was mortified that he did something so stupid when they weren’t in a relationship,” Constable Schagen said.

“You’ve got no grounds to be pissed off about who he’s sleeping with, you’re not together.”

Mr Lamarre-Condon concedes he “did some stupid things” including going through Mr Baird’s phone and deleting texts, his barrister John Stratton SC previously told the jury.

A long CCTV clip of Mr Lamarre-Condon’s movements on February 20, 2024, was played to the jury on Monday afternoon, with the former officer spotted withdrawing cash and shopping at Bunnings in Alexandria during the clip.

The trial continues.