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Bruce Saunders was desperately seeking a new life partner but his search ended with his body being found in a woodchipper and his former girlfriend charged with murder.
Investigating officers allege his death was not an accident, but part of a plot to claim the 54-year-old’s $750,000 life insurance.
Saunders was a man who needed a woman in his life, one friend said.
When he met Sharon Graham after his first wife’s death and a second failed marriage, he believed he had found love again.
Instead, Saunders unwittingly became embroiled in a fatal “love quadrangle”, a Brisbane supreme court murder trial has heard.
Graham, 61, is accused of asking Gregory Lee Roser and another lover, Peter Koenig, to kill her ex-partner and make it look like an accident.
Saunders was found in a woodchipper after clearing trees with Roser and Koenig at a property at Goomboorian, near Gympie, in November 2017.
Only his legs remained.
Graham and Roser, 63, have pleaded not guilty to murder, with Graham successfully applying for a separate trial.
She had split up with Saunders, but he was allegedly still besotted with her.
They lived in a Nambour house they had bought, but in separate bedrooms, when Graham began dating Roser.
Koenig had also been in an intimate relationship with Graham for years, unknown to Saunders.
Koenig spent weekends at the Nambour house as Graham’s “male best friend”.
Saunders told many people, including his estranged wife, Bernadette Rogers, that he was determined to win Graham back.
“Once you were in Bruce’s life, you were in Bruce’s life for good,” Rogers told the court. “He was sensitive, loving, very generous. He would do anything for anyone.”
So when Graham asked Saunders to help clear her friend’s property with Koenig and Roser, he agreed – even if it meant juggling his work as a butcher.
He even paid for the woodchipper hire.
But Graham had allegedly been plotting with Roser to kill Saunders for months before recruiting Koenig. Koenig said Graham asked him to meet her and Roser in August 2017 to talk about murdering Saunders for money.
It has been alleged Graham was the beneficiary of Saunders’ life insurance policy and his will.
She came up with the idea of murdering him at the property and using a woodchipper to cover it up, Koenig said.
Roser and Koenig agreed, “just to keep her happy.”
After a weekend at the property, Graham asked Koenig and Roser why Saunders was still alive, the court heard.
When she was told that the woodchipper was playing up and there were too many people around, Koenig said Graham replied: “Well, it’s got to be done.”
On the final weekend at the property, Koenig said a stressed Roser told him Graham was pressuring him to kill Saunders but he couldn’t do it.
When they finished work on the property without incident, Koenig allegedly thought, “beauty, it’s not going to happen.”
Then Saunders fell to the ground, Koenig said.
He turned around and allegedly saw Roser repeatedly hit a prone Saunders in the head with a metal bar.
“I said ‘what the fuck are you doing?’ and he said ‘I think I have killed him,’” he said.
Koenig helped carry Saunders to the chipper because Roser had a bad back, then fired up the machine.
Koenig said he pushed Saunders into the machine using a tree branch but stopped with the legs still protruding.
“Just to leave a bit of Bruce there I suppose … for the police to see,” Koenig said, who pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder.
They called Graham to tell her the job was done, then Roser screamed, “Oh Bruce, what have you done,” to make neighbours think there had been an accident, Koenig said.
The two men told police Saunders had been reckless and fell into the woodchipper, but that was a lie, Roser’s barrister, Lars Falcongreen, said.
Roser did not dispute that Saunders was murdered or that he “shamelessly” helped dispose of the body, but it was Koenig who was responsible for the killing, Falcongreen said.
The barrister accused Koenig of killing Saunders for Graham, saying he had been infatuated with her for more than 10 years.
Koenig confirmed he had about 1,000 photos of Graham on his phone.
Graham’s daughter Rebecca said Koenig told her at Saunders’ funeral that he was in love with her mother.
“She has that effect on men,” a friend said of Graham.
But Koenig said he only liked Graham and they were like brother and sister. He denied killing Saunders.
The day after Saunders’ death, Graham took out his will, her daughter said.
Graham told her Saunders had left everything to her and not his son, who she claimed had already inherited enough from his mother’s death.
Saunders was in financial trouble and was still married but hid it from Graham in order to keep her happy, the court heard.
Graham described Saunders as pathetic and according to a friend, said: “It’s not my fault he loves me and wants to give me everything.”
She moved into Saunders’ room at the Nambour house the night of his death, sharing his bed with Roser a day or two later, Rebecca said.
Neighbours said there were parties at the home for months afterwards.
Roser’s trial before justice Martin Burns continues.
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