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, Baird's ex-partner 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 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.
'There was a strong smell'
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.
The bodies' level of decomposition made it difficult for an initial identification but Abela said jewellery found matched that worn by Baird and Davies in Instagram posts.
Black plastic bags and a wheelbarrow were found near the body, 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.
CCTV cables cut by cockatoos
Concrete blocks and gym weights were found at the edge of a dam on the farm, the jury was told.
While a CCTV system on the farm had its cables cut, Abela agreed under cross-examination the accused was unlikely to have been involved.
She agreed with the farm owner's assessment that cockatoos had caused the damage, the jury heard.
The prosecution alleges Lamarre-Condon became violently infatuated with 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 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.
The sworn officer maintained under cross-examination the accused killer had months earlier told her about enlisting his mother to help him lie to Baird.
Instagram photo of flowers
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 Baird.
The photo was designed to imply Baird sent flowers to the accused, despite the pair not being in a relationship at the time, Harvell said.
When Baird discovered the ruse, Lamarre-Condon spent AU$160 (NZ$198.90) on a bouquet identical to the photo to lie to him, the officer's friend said.
Lamarre-Condon then sent a photo to 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," Harvell said.
The trial continues.
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