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Beau Lamarre-Condon bought sim card under pseudonym a month before alleged murders, trial hears

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Wong, K. (2026, November 13). Beau Lamarre-Condon bought sim card under pseudonym a month before alleged murders, trial hears. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/nov/13/beau-lamarre-condon-trial-sim-card-pseudonym-ntwnfb

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-11-13 · by Kat Wong

Quick Summary

Beau Lamarre-Condon, a former police officer on trial for the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in February 2024, testified in Sydney’s Supreme Court that he bought a sim card under the pseudonym “Bob Ballard” in January 2024. He claimed he wanted to use this sim card to gather statements about bullying in the police force and potentially go to the media with them. Under cross-examination, the prosecutor questioned the legitimacy of Lamarre-Condon’s claims and the relevance of Davies’s contact details on his phone.
Written by AI on 2026-11-13, from this article's own text only.

AI analysis

Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 149698 · logged 2026-11-13

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 11% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Guardian
Hedges 3 of 13 claims Outlet record 65/100
“The articles describe different testimony given by Beau Lamarre-Condon on separate days regarding different actions (buying a SIM card and throwing a phone), though they are part of the same trial.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
11%
2 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
65/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
unclustered
not grouped into a story yet
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 3360 article(s) · 7 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 7 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Kat Wong
32 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
The prosecutor said he could have used encrypted messaging app Signal on his normal phone, but Lamarre-Condon claimed police could make him unlock his own device and view his Signal records if he was investigated for talking to the media.
As part of his cross examination, crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC put to him: “you did [that to] destroy evidence on Jesse’s phone that might incriminate you”.
He claimed he was only seeing whether that address was available on the app as it would indicate whether or not he was using the service.
Beau Lamarre-Condon has denied being “obsessed” with Jesse Baird from the start of their relationship, telling a court he would have liked the TV presenter even if he was “a garbage cleaner”.
He said he was thinking of stopping at Paddington to get his belongings from Baird before the other man got home from work, which would have put him in the “exact same” position he was in today as his firearm was still in his backpack.
He says he was thinking of stopping at Paddington to get his belongings from Baird before the other man got home from work, which would have put him in the “exact same” position he was in today as his firearm was still in his backpack.
“He would say things such as ‘I used to bash gay people while in Jindabyne’,” Lamarre-Condon told the court on Thursday.
When we would meet up it was of the sexual nature.
“We have a responsibility not to engage in binary thinking, not to engage in the language of violence, [but] to rebuild trust by building financial security in a time of deep insecurity,” Ardern said during a forum with the author Anna Funder. “There are things we could be doing but, right now, we’re making it worse, not better.”
In question time in early September, the prime minister told the house the money would go toward “an environmental project stopping raw sewage going into the Cooks River during flooding”.
Also by Kat Wong
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 32 articles by Kat Wong →

Topics

Instagram New South Wales Paddington Signal Sydney

Subjects

Lamarre-Condon PERSON · 7× Instagram ORG · 3× Davies PERSON · 2× Jesse Baird PERSON · 2× Sydney GPE · 2× Baird PERSON · 1× Beau Lamarre-Condon PERSON · 1× Bob Ballard PERSON · 1× Luke Davies PERSON · 1× Paddington GPE · 1×

Narrative

But asked why his phone records showed he only contacted one police officer on this sim, Lamarre-Condon said it only revealed his normal phone calls, telling the court: “You can’t see what I did on Signal”.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-13
The prosecutor said he could have used encrypted messaging app Signal on his normal phone, but Lamarre-Condon claimed police could make him unlock his own device and view his Signal records if he was investigated for talking to the media.

Claims (18 extracted, 2 hedged)

Beau Lamarre-Condon has told a Sydney court he obtained a sim card under a pseudonym a month before allegedly murdering two men because he wanted to go to the media about bullying allegations in the police force. uncertain
he → tell → force
The former police officer is accused of fatally shooting Jesse Baird and his new partner, Luke Davies, with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home in Sydney on 19 February 2024. asserted
officer → accuse → February
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter. asserted
He → plead → break
Sat in the witness box for the seventh day, Lamarre-Condon was asked about purchasing a sim card under the name “Bob Ballard” on 15 January 2024, about a month before the shootings. asserted
Condon → sit → shootings
Lamarre-Condon told the jury in his double murder trial it had “nothing to do with Jesse Baird”. asserted
it → tell → Baird
He was attempting to compile statements about “bullying from a certain sergeant” but was worried about speaking publicly on the issue, Lamarre-Condon said. asserted
Condon → attempt → issue
“I was wanting to go and compile all these statements and go to the media,” he told the New South Wales supreme court on Friday. asserted
he → want → Friday
“I didn’t want to communicate at all from my phone because you can become a target… asserted
you → want → phone
Under cross-examination by crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC, Lamarre-Condon agreed he was using the new sim card to contact former and current officers. asserted
he → agree → officers
But asked why his phone records showed he only contacted one police officer on this sim, Lamarre-Condon said it only revealed his normal phone calls, telling the court: “You can’t see what I did on Signal”. asserted
I → ask → Signal
The prosecutor said he could have used encrypted messaging app Signal on his normal phone, but Lamarre-Condon claimed police could make him unlock his own device and view his Signal records if he was investigated for talking to the media. uncertain
he → say → media
Hatfield also questioned why Lamarre-Condon had Davies’s contact details on his phone. asserted
Condon → question → phone
The former officer claimed Davies’s details were on his Instagram. asserted
details → claim → Instagram
“I went and blocked numerous Instagram [accounts] from my own Instagram because of this incident,” he said, referring to the shootings. asserted
he → go → shootings
“I even blocked Jesse’s family members from my account. asserted
I → block → account
I didn’t want any of that.” asserted
I → want → that
He de-activated his social media accounts soon after. asserted
de → de → accounts
The trial before Justice Natalie Adams continues. asserted
trial → continue → Adams
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