‘The machine was playing up’: Bigger woodchipper brought in before alleged murder

A woman asked two men to murder her ex-partner to gain $700,000 from his insurance and later asked them why he was still alive, a jury has been told.

Sharon Graham, 62, faced day two of her trial at Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday after pleading not guilty to the murder of Bruce James Saunders at a rural Goomboorian property, about 70 kilometres north-west of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

From left: Peter Koenig, Greg Roser and Sharon Graham.

Graham has been accused of having her then-partner Greg Roser, along with Peter Koenig, kill Saunders and make it look like he died accidentally by falling into a woodchipper.

Koenig on Tuesday testified that he saw Roser hit Saunders multiple times on the head with an iron bar after sunset on November 12, 2017.

The court heard the three men had just finished a weekend of working to clear vegetation on a property belonging to Graham’s friend.

Koenig said he was walking at the front of the trio when he felt Saunders brush against his arm and turned to see him lying face-up on the ground.

Bruce Saunders’ body was found at a grisly scene involving a woodchipper.

“Greg was standing over him with a steel bar ... above his shoulder. He clubbed him on the head again and again,” Koenig said.

Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller KC asked Koenig what he did next.

“I said ‘what the f--- have you done?’ Or similar. Greg said, ‘I’ve killed him’,” Koenig said.

Koenig said he grabbed Saunders’ legs and helped Roser to carry the lifeless man back to the woodchipper.

“I placed Bruce on the tray of the chipper and used a stick to put his arm into the rollers to take him in,” Koenig said.

Koenig had earlier told the jury he had been sentenced for being an accessory to murdering Saunders with an undertaking that he testify in Graham’s trial.

Koenig said he had met Graham years ago in South Australia and had infrequent sexual contact with her while working for her partner at the time as a truck driver and had followed the couple when they moved to the Gympie region in Queensland.

A couple of months before Saunders died, Koenig said he and Roser were asked to meet Graham in a hotel room at Gympie.

“She wanted Bruce killed ... she said she wanted him killed for his life insurance, I think it was,” Koenig said.

He said he refused and left the hotel room but later did take part in a plan to arrange to spend three weekends clearing Graham’s friend’s property.

After the second weekend of clearing trees without incident, Koenig said Graham spoke to Roser and himself.

“She asked why Bruce wasn’t killed. [Roser] said there were too many people around and the machine was playing up ... she said that it’s got to be done,” Koenig said.

Koenig said the group replaced a smaller green woodchipper with a larger yellow industrial unit and returned to the property the next weekend.

The trial continues.

– AAP