By Laine Clark For Australian Associated Press
Published: 04:45 GMT, 28 September 2022 | Updated: 04:45 GMT, 28 September 2022 Professional Wood Grinder
Bruce Saunders, 54, (pictured) was allegedly murdered while working on a property north of Brisbane in 2017
A woman accused of plotting the murder of her ex-partner allegedly asked her two lovers why he had not already been killed a week before his body was found in a woodchipper, a court has heard.
Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday heard Sharon Graham had asked her two lovers why her former partner Bruce Saunders had not been killed one week before his body was found in a woodchipper.
Gregory Lee Roser, 63, is on trial for murder after Mr Saunders, 54, died while working on a property north of Brisbane in November 2017.
Graham, 61, also pleaded not guilty to Mr Saunders' murder but a Brisbane Supreme Court judge on Tuesday ordered she be tried separately from Roser.
He and another man, Peter Koenig, were asked to kill Mr Saunders and make it look like an accident in a bid to claim his $750,000 life insurance policy, the court has heard.
The jury has been shown police footage of Mr Saunders' legs protruding from a woodchipper at the Goomboorian property near Gympie after he had been clearing trees with Roser and Koenig.
Sharon Graham, 61, (right) is accused of plotting his murder and allegedly asked two of her lovers - including Gregory Lee Roser, 63 (centre) - why Saunders had not been killed a week prior to his death
Koenig pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder in June, the court heard.
Koenig said about three months before Mr Saunders died Graham asked him to meet her and Roser at a Gympie motel, telling them she had organised for the property to be cleared.
When asked what else Graham said, Koenig told the jury: 'About killing Bruce - Sharon wanted him killed.'
Asked why, Koenig replied: 'Money. I think it was insurance money, life insurance.'
Koenig said they 'just agreed' but he did not intend to kill Mr Saunders.
'Why say yes?' crown prosecutor David Meredith said.
'Just to keep her happy,' Koenig replied.
Koenig said he had been in an intimate relationship with Graham who was dating Roser at the time of her ex-partner Saunders' death.
After clearing the property for a second straight weekend they returned to Mr Saunders' Nambour home which he shared with Graham who slept in a separate bedroom.
When Mr Saunders went for a shower, Koenig said Graham asked why her ex-partner was still alive.
'She asked what was going on, why didn't it happen,' Koenig told the jury.
After being told that the chipper was 'playing up' and there were too many people around, Koenig said Graham replied: 'Well, it's got to be done.'
Roser is on trial for murder and is accused of hitting Saunders on the head with a metal bar before he and another worker fed his body into a woodchipper (pictured)
The next weekend Mr Saunders' body was found in the chipper.
Roser has been accused of killing Mr Saunders by hitting him in the head with a metal bar before he and Koenig fed the body into the chipper.
Koenig said a week before the motel meeting Graham and Roser had asked to borrow his handgun to shoot some rabbits but returned it a fortnight later because it was 'too noisy'.
The Crown has alleged that Graham plotted Mr Saunders' death for up to six months, at one stage asking Roser to shoot her ex-partner before abandoning the plan.
Justice Martin Burns earlier told the jury that Graham would face a separate trial, with her matter set to be reviewed in October.
The Crown has alleged that Graham plotted Mr Saunders' death for up to six months (pictured, a smiling Bruce Saunders)
The jury was told after Roser and Graham's joint trial had entered its second week.
'Sometimes it is asking too much to expect that you can give separate consideration to respective cases,' Justice Burns said.
'To ask you to give the case a separate consideration would be asking you to perform impossible mental gymnastics.
'So far as the case against Ms Graham is concerned that point has been reached.
'I therefore discharge you from having to delivering a verdict in her case ... when you return we will continue Mr Roser's trial.'
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