A psychiatric report into the state of mind of accused double-murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon could determine his fate.
The former Sydney police officer is accused of fatally shooting former Channel 10 presenter Jesse Baird and Baird’s Qantas flight attendant boyfriend Luke Davies with his police-issued gun on February 19 last year.
Lamarre-Condon’s Legal Aid team told Downing Centre Local Court on Friday that his client had been reviewed by a forensic psychologist since the alleged murders but that the report was not due until April 1.
Once finalised, his publicly-funded legal team will then review its findings.
On Friday, Lamarre-Condon’s legal team requested an adjournment of just over two months to consider the report and then take plea instructions from their client.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that it’s expected both the defence and prosecutors would then meet to discuss appropriate pleas and contested issues, with a date of April 30 tentatively scheduled for that to occur.
Lamarre-Condon’s previous legal team flagged that they were exploring mental health as a potential defence.
“Mental health is something we expect to come into play,” said his previous lawyer John Walford last March.
Lamarre-Condon parted ways with private legal representation late last year, which was when Legal Aid took over the case.
It’s not yet known what avenue his new legal team will take, but the use of a mental health report does provide some clues.
A mental health assessment is used to determine whether an accused criminal was suffering from a psychological impairment and as such cannot be held “criminally responsible” for their actions, the Herald reported.
If Lamarre-Condon was found to not be “criminally responsible” he would land in the mental health system.
The 29-year-old has still not entered a plea to two counts of domestic violence murder and one count of breaking and entering.
The breaking and entering charge came after police alleged Lamarre-Condon broke into Baird’s share house in August 2023, intending to commit the serious offence of stalking the presenter.
Police will allege in court that the former senior constable shot both Baird and Davies using his police-issued weapon at Baird’s Paddington home before disposing of their bodies in the NSW Southern Tablelands.
The attack is alleged to have been premeditated after a months-long campaign of predatory behaviour towards Baird, who he had briefly dated prior.
Lamarre-Condon has been in custody for more than a year after he handed himself in at Bondi police station on February 23, 2024 – four days after he allegedly killed the couple.
The matter is set to resume in court on May 20.
This article was written by Eliot Hastie, who knew Baird.
Correction: The matter was on Friday adjourned for just over two months, not six weeks as first published. While the defence and prosecution will meet in six weeks to discuss the case, it doesn’t return to court until just over two months from now on May 20. GSN apologises for this timeline error, which was introduced during the sub-editing process. We have also clarified within the article dates of events by adding the years in which they allegedly occurred.
Gay Sydney News reporter