Coleen Lamarre charged in Australia over witness influence claim
In australia, Coleen Lamarre, 63, was arrested in Balmain and charged with perverting the course of justice after police said she allegedly tried to influence a key witness in her son’s double murder trial. She was refused bail and is due before the bail division court on Thursday.
Balmain arrest and bail refusal
NSW police said Lamarre was taken into custody in Balmain before the charge was laid. The allegation centres on an attempt to change a witness’s evidence in the case against Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, who is facing double murder charges over the deaths of Luke Davies and Jesse Baird.
Perverting the course of justice carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. That makes Lamarre’s arrest a separate criminal case inside the wider prosecution already headed for trial in September.
September trial over Davies and Baird
Beaumont Lamarre-Condon was charged in February 2024 over the deaths of Davies, 29, and Baird, 26. Police allege he shot the pair with his police pistol at Baird’s inner-city home, and their bodies were found on 27 February inside surfboard bags at the fence line of a rural property in Bungonia, about 200km south-west of Sydney.
The case has already moved through several legal changes. In November 2024, John Walford was replaced by Legal Aid representation as Lamarre-Condon’s defence lawyer, Legal Aid later withdrew, and solicitor Ben Archbold became his lawyer.
Karen Webb’s earlier comments
Lamarre-Condon joined the NSW police force in 2019 and was sacked a few weeks after the alleged murders. The case drew additional scrutiny because the alleged killings happened in the lead-up to Mardi Gras, when the Mardi Gras board asked police not to march in the parade and police went ahead in plainclothes.
Former police commissioner Karen Webb later apologised for describing the case as a “crime of passion”. Lamarre-Condon is due to face trial in September for a case expected to run for two to three months, while Coleen Lamarre returns to court on Thursday on the new charge against her.
