Taxpayers will fund the defence of Beaumont Lamarre-Condon as his lawyers call for a forensic psychiatrist to assess the ex-police officer before he answers allegations he murdered two men.
The 29-year-old was charged with double murder after police found the bodies of Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies, 29, and TV presenter Jesse Baird, 26, in February.
Sydney’s Downing Centre’s Local Court was told Lamarre-Condon would no longer be represented by lawyer John Walford and instead would be defended via taxpayer-funded Legal Aid.
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Magistrate Clare Farnan described the late change as “regrettable” after she heard Lamarre-Condon’s new legal team was also seeking an adjournment until the coming year to allow a mental health assessment to take place.
“We have a forensic psychiatrist who has indicated they can assess the accused early next year,” Lamarre-Condon’s Legal Aid lawyer told the court on Tuesday.
“We expect that assessment will occur in February or March.”
Farnan instead opted to adjourn the case for two weeks, adding it was “regrettable that legal representation is changing at this stage in the proceedings”.
Prosecutors opposed the lengthy adjournment saying it was not clear all efforts had been made to find a psychiatrist.
Lamarre-Condon is alleged to have shot the men with his service weapon at Mr Baird’s inner-city home before attempting to dispose of their bodies.
Police allege the attack was premeditated after a months-long campaign of “predatory behaviour” targeting Mr Baird, who Lamarre-Condon briefly dated and was in a new relationship with Mr Davies.
The former senior constable is facing two counts of domestic violence-related murder, and one count of break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence.
Suspicions were raised after possessions belonging to the men were found in a skip bin in the southern Sydney suburb of Cronulla, leading police to Baird’s blood-smeared share house in Paddington.
The couple’s bodies were found on February 27 inside surfboard bags at the fence line of a rural property in Bungonia, near Goulburn, about 200km southwest of Sydney.
Lamarre-Condon was sacked by the NSW Police Force in mid-March.
He joined the force in 2019 and previously ran a celebrity blog, posing in photos with dozens of A-listers including Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles.