What a Housemate's Photo Tells the Jury in the Baird-Davies Trial

A housemate of Jesse Baird told the NSW Supreme Court she photographed red liquid seeping from surfboard bags in their Paddington courtyard without knowing the bags contained the bodies of Baird and Luke Davies. The Guardian

Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, is accused of fatally shooting Baird and Davies with his police service weapon in Baird's Paddington home on 19 February 2024. The former police officer has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter, meaning entry without permission in serious circumstances. The trial is before Justice Natalie Adams.

The witness gave evidence under the pseudonym Belinda Smith. She said she returned home from work on the evening after the shootings and went to the courtyard to check washing after heavy rain. She described two surfboard bags with a blue tarp over them and red liquid in the courtyard. She took a photo of the liquid and sent it to another housemate known as Sarah King. That photo was presented to the jury.

Smith said she believed the liquid was rusted water from outdoor furniture. She confirmed Baird had never spoken to her about surfing. She had never seen a surfboard in the house. Asked if she had reason to suspect anything else was in the surfboard bags, she answered no.

The court heard Baird had told the house group chat he would be moving out on 20 February 2024 after housemates asked him to move out so a friend could take his spot. On the morning of 20 February, Smith messaged King: "I'm genuinely scared this dude isn't moving out today" after seeing Baird's belongings had not been packed. A message later sent from Baird's phone to the group chat claimed he had hired someone to collect his things and that he "might be doing a road trip to Perth with my mates."

Smith told the court that by 22 February the surfboard bags had been cleared and the liquid was gone. The bodies of Baird and Davies were later found in two surfboard bags on the fence line of a rural monastery in Bungonia. Sarah King had earlier shown a detective a photo of the back courtyard, previously taken by the other housemate, showing surfboard bags and a blue tarpaulin.

Defence lawyer John Stratton SC said in his opening statement that Baird and Davies were fatally shot in self-defence, the legal claim that lethal force was needed to protect oneself, after struggles with Lamarre-Condon. The jury was told Lamarre-Condon immediately began cleaning up the scene because he panicked.

The Crown case, the case brought by state prosecutors, points to preparation before 19 February. A surfboard bag purchased two days before the alleged murders cost $85. The Guardian Lamarre-Condon purchased a surfboard bag from a shop in Miranda in Sydney's south two days before the alleged murders, later bought a second surfboard bag, hired a vehicle under his mother's name and investigated ways to conceal the sound of gunfire. The Guardian

A jury was shown CCTV footage of Lamarre-Condon buying a surfboard bag prior to the alleged murders. Prosecutors told the jury Lamarre-Condon allegedly murdered Davies to eliminate him as a witness to the alleged murder of Baird. ABC News Police photos taken at key locations and crime-scene photos were shown to the jury during the trial. Friends and loved ones of Baird have given evidence. A friend of Lamarre-Condon told the court he once asked her if she would help hide a body. The same friend said he asked her what she would do if he said, "I killed somebody."

The broader context here is a trial turning on intent and what happened after the shots. Like pieces in a timeline puzzle, the housemate evidence places the bodies in the house for days, records what an uninvolved observer saw, and narrows the window when the bags were removed. That timeline will matter when the jury weighs panic against planning.

In my view, the contrast for the jury is now clear. The defence offers sudden struggles, fatal shots and a panicked cleanup. The prosecution offers purchased bags, a hired car, research on muffling gunfire, messages sent from a dead man's phone and a second killing to remove a witness. Smith's testimony fits either account of panic in the moment but supports the Crown account of concealment in plain sight. What comes next is testing of forensic links between the weapon, the courtyard and Bungonia, and whether the self-defence claim survives the evidence of steps taken beforehand.