Crown prosecutors and the defence team representing Beau Lamarre-Condon concluded their opening statements in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Defence barrister John Stratton told the court Lamarre-Condon entered the home of his former boyfriend, Jesse Baird, to retrieve jewellery—not to kill him.

Mr Stratton said his client “didn’t want to go through the embarrassment” of confronting Baird that morning.

The court heard Lamarre-Condon waited until the property was empty before letting himself inside. He was dressed as an Uber Eats delivery driver and wearing a motorbike helmet and high-visibility clothing in case someone answered the door.

Mr Stratton said Baird was holding a knife and failed to recognise Lamarre-Condon because of the helmet and high-vis clothing.

Lamarre-Condon was carrying his firearm because, as a trained police officer, he had been taught never to leave a gun in a car where it could be stolen, the court heard.

According to the defence case, Baird seized the gun during a struggle and it discharged, fatally injuring him.

The firearm was thrown into the living room, the court heard. Lamarre-Condon then began walking down the hallway while calling Triple-0.

He then encountered Luke Davies, who was Baird’s new boyfriend, the court heard.

Lamarre-Condon allegedly grabbed Davies by the arm and pushed the gun away from himself before Davies pulled the trigger and fatally shot himself.

Mr Stratton told the court his client had no intention of harming anyone in Paddington that day and had acted in self-defence.

“After that, the accused panicked, he knew it looked bad,” Mr Stratton said.

“He cleaned up as much as he could and threw the knife into the yard of a house on Lawson Street.”

Mr Stratton also denied that his client had broken into Baird’s home in August 2023, saying Lamarre-Condon entered because he had been given a key.

The court heard Lamarre-Condon struggled to cope with the end of his relationship with Baird and “did stupid things, like looking through Baird’s phone and deleting messages”.

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Security footage from the front yard of a neighbour’s home in Paddington captured the sound of gunshots on the day of the alleged double murder. The recordings were played to the court.

Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield alleged the three shots heard in the footage were the same shots that killed Baird and Davies.

Mr Hatfield also alleged Lamarre-Condon told a friend he had “killed two people” and said his work as a senior constable had “f***ed me up”.

When the friend asked how he had allegedly killed two people, Lamarre-Condon replied: “Pew pew.”

The court heard Lamarre-Condon later stopped at Westfield Miranda in Sydney’s south and bought a second surfboard case from Decathlon for $85. He already had one surfboard case, prosecutors alleged.

He then allegedly went to Bunnings in Alexandria in Sydney’s west, and bought a bucket, mop, bleach, black cable ties, a 20-pack of cleaning cloths, double-sided tape, and garbage bags.

Lamarre-Condon also allegedly made a complaint about the NSW Police Force while on his way to hand himself in for the alleged murders of Baird and Davies, the court heard.

During that phone call, he said: ‘I’ve been bullied, but when I reported it, no action was taken … All this death and trauma and psychological abuse … Did I say trauma already?

‘… It has caused me to have symptoms of schizophrenia … sorry, can we start again? Delete the whole thing, we’ll just keep it short and sweet.’

He then handed himself in to detectives in Bondi, the court heard, during which he allegedly said he took medication for depression and schizophrenia, but couldn’t remember what the medication was called.

Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC told the court Lamarre-Condon was not on any medication for mental health issues, and that mental health impairment did not form part of his defence.

Baird’s sister Kourtnee (pictured above in white trousers) told the court her brother was ‘fearful’ because Lamarre-Condon was a police officer with a weapon, and that he would block Baird’s contacts on his phone.

She also told the court that her brother believed he was being followed.

‘He got messages [from Lamarre-Condon] saying “you looked really good in the gym tonight”, or when he was out for coffee or a meal he would often receive messages saying he looked nice in what he was wearing.’

Baird’s mother (pictured above in black) broke down on the stand while talking about her son.

Australian commuters have named the train stations they consider the creepiest after dark — including one where people claim to have spotted the ghost of a teenage girl roaming the platform at night.

The conversation began when a Sydney passenger asked fellow commuters: “Which train station do you find particularly creepy at nighttime?”

“My vote would have to go to Kotara,” they replied.

“The dark bushland on both sides, plus the clear lack of patronage, can just imagine the silence — I’d find it very unnerving waiting there at night.”

Other commuters agreed that Kotara, about 9km from Newcastle’s CBD, ranks among Australia’s worst train stations. Some described the stop as “barebones” and “pointless”, while others said anyone stranded there at night could feel completely isolated.

The station has even received a one-star rating on Google Reviews, with one passenger labelling it the “most poorly situated location”.

“It’s a very annoying stop for other train passengers who can’t understand why trains stop at Kotara when generally no one uses this station,” the commuter wrote.

“Safety is not necessarily guaranteed and no one will hear you scream if such is required. Rare sightings of passengers actually using this station occur occasionally, but not more than once every two hours on weekends and public holidays due to ridiculously poor frequency of trains that actually do stop here.”

Others, however, came to Kotara’s defence, describing it as one of the safest neighbourhoods in NSW and joking that it was home mainly to “soccer mums and dorky dads”.

One woman disagreed. “My parents moved us to Kotara because on paper the train system was great. We went to see the station and they immediately went, ‘Nope!’” she said.

Macquarie Fields

Macquarie Fields, in Sydney’s Macarthur region and 38km south-west of the CBD, was another station repeatedly singled out as particularly creepy.

“Macquarie Fields is the most terrifying after dark,” one commuter said.

The station’s eerie atmosphere was not the only thing troubling passengers.

“Macquarie Fields is haunted,” one person declared.

“Macquarie Fields. You know why,” another wrote, linking to a chilling account of an alleged ghost sighting at the station.

For decades, passengers have reported seeing a young girl wearing a “blood-stained” dress or hearing “faint crying” once the last train has left the station.

Ghost hunters have suggested the figure could be the spirit of Emily Hay Georgenson, a 42-year-old woman reportedly killed after being struck by a train near the platform in 1906.

“Those brave enough to linger after the last service often report the sound of faint, rhythmic sobbing that gradually builds into a guttural moan or a terrifying shriek,” a blog post about Supernatural Sydney published by Earth Bound Travel Guides claimed.

‘She is most often seen sitting in the middle of the platform, staring blankly at the tracks, or wandering the dark end of the station near the overpass.’

Meanwhile, some suggested the platform no longer seemed as ‘creepy’, as the ‘station has since been done up quite nicely’.

Otford 

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Commuters agreed they always felt unsettled at Otford train station, located 55km south of Sydney and 30km north of Wollongong’s CBD. 

‘Otford is definitely not where you want to be stranded,’ one said. 

‘Especially with the no reception,’ another added. 

‘Eerie vibes at Otford,’ one shared. 

‘Years ago I had to pick my wife up from Otford in the middle of the night. She fell asleep on the last train after a night out with the girls. She woke up somewhere past Waterfall and rang me. I told her to get off at the next stop and I’ll come get her. Creepy station with not much around especially at 2am,’ another revealed.

Otford station is known as one of the closest public transport options to the Instagram-famous Figure 8 Pools, which is roughly a six-and-a-half-hour round-trip trek.

Macdonaldtown

Macdonaldtown, located between the busy Newtown and Redfern stations, was frequently mentioned as one of the ‘creepy’ platforms.

‘On the top of my head I would say Macdonaldtown, creepy old walkway, next to the rail yards, narrow platform and it’s in the middle of a residential area with no shops next to the station and it’s dead quiet,’ one said. 

‘I happen to have a picture of that creepy walkway at night! Yes, I always found the very narrow platforms adds a vague sense of claustrophobia too,’ another shared.

‘Why is Macdonaldtown still an active station? You can stand on the platform and see three other stations,’ one pointed out. 

‘Macdonaldtown station doesn’t actually exist, it’s just a collective hallucination that we all experience,’ another joked. 

‘They should seriously just get rid of the station. Absolutely nothing is good about this place, I feel awful for anyone who has to come here regularly,’ one added.

Interestingly, Macdonaldtown was once a suburb, but is now known as a quiet train station in Sydney’s inner west.  

The station unfortunately has a very dark history, with police uncovering the remains of 15 babies at a property in Macdonaldtown in the 1890s.

The property was home to Sydney couple John and Sarah Makin, who were later found to be behind the gruesome killings of fostered babies.

Dubbed the ‘Macdonaldtown baby farmers’, the couple faced a high-profile trial, with Sarah spared the death sentence, while her husband John was hanged.

Many speculated that Macdonaldtown was renamed Erskineville to distance itself from the horrific crimes that took place there. 

However, it was later reported that a proposal to change the suburb name had actually been made months before the remains of the infants were found.

An Alabama man who has spent more than 40 years behind bars for his wife’s murder has been granted a new trial.

Charles McCrory was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for killing Julie Bonds McCrory in May 1985. He could soon be released after a federal judge ordered Alabama to either retry him for the murder or set him free.

The prosecution’s case relied largely on two small marks on Julie’s arm. State prosecutors and their expert claimed the marks were bite wounds inflicted by Charles during a violent attack.

However, matching bite marks to a suspect’s teeth is now widely regarded as junk science. The dentist who testified against McCrory decades ago has also withdrawn his conclusion, saying he cannot even confirm that the marks were made by teeth.

Chief US District Judge Austin Huffaker Jr wrote in an order issued Monday: ‘The bitemark evidence clearly prejudiced the outcome of McCrory’s trial, especially in light of the other evidence presented at trial.

‘The non-bitemark evidence from which the jury could convict McCrory was thin.’

Six years ago, Alabama offered McCrory the chance to leave prison if he admitted killing his wife. He refused. ‘What am I going to do, make up a story?

‘I kind of chuckled… I’m not going to plead guilty to something I didn’t do,’ he told AL.com.

Judge Huffaker’s order gives the Alabama Attorney General’s Office 180 days to begin a new trial for McCrory or release him from prison.

McCrory worked for 26 years as a technology worker and volunteer paramedic. Despite the absence of DNA evidence, a confession or a clear motive, he remained the primary suspect in his wife’s death. 

No blood was found on his clothing or inside his apartment either.

Dr Richard Souviron, a Florida forensic dentist who had previously matched wounds to Ted Bundy’s teeth during Bundy’s 1979 trial, testified that the two marks on Julie’s arm matched her husband’s teeth.

The court treated Souviron’s testimony as the only physical evidence in the case. Judge Huffaker criticized that decision, saying it ‘resulted in a fundamentally unfair trial.’

Huffaker also said the state court’s 2022 decision rejecting McCrory’s request for a new trial was ‘both an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law and was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts.’

At the time, Charles lived in a small apartment a short distance from Julie and their toddler son in Andalusia, Covington County. The couple were in the process of divorcing.

Charles said the couple attended marriage counseling, spent time with their son and had sex before he returned to his apartment on the night of May 30, 1985.

The couple were frequently together, and Julie’s datebook suggested that Charles might move back in, AL.com reported.

Charles said he heard about the murder the next morning, when his paramedic radio signaled a call for help at his wife’s home.

Julie was found lying in the front doorway of her home – severely beaten with five ‘chop’ wounds to her head, 11 puncture wounds to her chest, fractured jaw bones, bruises and two small marks on her upper right arm.

The cause of the puncture marks was never confirmed.

At trial in October 1985, the case hinged on circumstantial evidence like McCrory’s behavior and disputed witness statements as to cars at the family home.

The two small marks that Souviron said were made by McCrory’s upper teeth were the only physical evidence.

McCrory was convicted and sent to prison for the rest of his life, despite the lack of evidence.

In recent years, the technique of bite mark evidence was questioned and considered ‘junk science’ by national groups saying that this type of analysis lacks data. 

Souviron took back his testimony in a 2019 affidavit: ‘I no longer believe the individualized teeth marks comparison testimony I offered in his case was reliable or proper.’

He said he ‘would not’ give the same testimony today in Charles McCrory’s case, adding that he never actually examined Julie’s body and relied on photos instead.

Despite the dentist’s new statements, Alabama state courts denied a request from Charles’s team of lawyers for a new trial. 

Prosecutors from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office argued in 2021 that jurors could have simply looked at pictures of Julie’s body and matched the markings themselves – to which the Alabama Criminal Court of Appeals agreed.

Huffaker commented on the suggestion: ‘This finding blinks reality in light of the evidence.

‘If an expert could not testify about bitemark identification because it is junk science, a jury should not have been allowed to consider it either.’

‘It makes little sense that a lay jury could permissibly form a conclusion that no forensic expert could.’

Charles McCrory’s lawyers cited 39 known wrongful convictions and indictments made on the basis of bite mark forensics – two of which were made on testimonies by Souviron.

The Daily Mail contacted the Alabama Attorney General’s Office and McCrory for comment. 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in person for the first time since the controversy dubbed “melon-gate”.

The dispute began in July, when Albanese spoke about a gift of premium Shizuoka crown melons from Takaichi during an appearance on comedian Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast.

After Osborne joked that Takaichi had arrived looking like Pamela Anderson because she had brought “two melons”, Albanese gestured towards his chest and responded: “She brought two, and they are beautiful.”

The exchange quickly triggered a political backlash, as critics accused the Australian leader of making an inappropriate reference to his Japanese counterpart.

Albanese refused to apologise, saying he had not made an offensive comment about Takaichi and pointing out that Osborne had introduced the joke.

The Prime Minister’s office likewise maintained that his hand movements had been misunderstood, while officials in Tokyo appeared keen to prevent the issue from escalating.

Japan’s ambassador to Australia, Kazuhiro Suzuki, said Australian officials had assured Tokyo that Albanese “did not make the comments in the way that has been reported”.

The earlier tension was not apparent when Albanese and Takaichi held talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, marking their first face-to-face encounter since the controversy.

Their meeting took place as Takaichi delivered a forceful warning about the direction of global affairs, telling the General Assembly that international institutions created after World War II were struggling to address today’s challenges.

“The stable post-Cold War era is now a thing of the past,” she told delegates.

She directed some of her sharpest remarks at the United Nations Security Council, saying it was “not functioning for international peace” and remained shaped by “the international situation as it stood in 1945”.

Takaichi urged immediate reform, calling for the council to be expanded with additional permanent and non-permanent members to bring its structure closer to the realities of the modern world.

Her comments came as Albanese began Australia’s campaign for a highly sought-after non-permanent seat on the Security Council for the 2029-30 term.

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Japan’s call for change follows mounting criticism from countries that believe the council has failed to respond effectively to some of the world’s most serious crises.

Takaichi was especially critical of Russia’s use of its veto on issues connected to the war in Ukraine.

Australia is campaigning for one of the council’s rotating positions, with Albanese arguing that global security should be “governed by rules, not by power and force alone”. He has also pledged to use the United Nations to advance conflict prevention, climate security and international standards for emerging technologies.

Albanese is scheduled to address the United Nations later this week.

Almost 130 world leaders are attending the high-level gathering, prompting the US Secret Service, NYPD and other agencies to coordinate one of the largest security operations of the year.

Adding to the disruption, police responded to a suspicious package at East 43rd Street and Third Avenue, just blocks from the UN headquarters.

The incident sparked building evacuations and road closures, with authorities shutting 42nd Street through 44th Street between Second and Lexington Avenues.

The Macquarie Bank event where Albanese had spoke earlier was about 1.5 kilometres away.

The NYPD initially urged the public to steer clear of the area.

‘Due to police activity, please avoid the area around 43rd Street and 3rd Avenue. Expect road closures and delays,’ the department posted.

Police later expanded the exclusion zone, stating: ‘Due to a suspicious package, 42nd Street through 44th Street is closed between 2nd Avenue and Lexington Avenue. Please avoid the area.’

It is understood officers were investigating an unattended suitcase. Specialist units were deployed while nearby buildings were cleared and streets were cordoned off.