Jury finds man guilty of brutally murdering his partner by smashing him over the head with a metal bar and putting his body through a chipper
Queensland jury finds Gregory Lee Roser guilty of murdering Bruce Saunders
Saunders, 54, was killed after he was caught in ‘love square’
He died after being fed into a chipper on a rural property in November 2017
Co-defendant Sharon Graham has pleaded not guilty and filed for a separate trial
Peter Koenig pleaded guilty to accessory to murder earlier this year
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Five years after Bruce Saunders’ body was found in a wood chipper, Gregory Lee Roser has been found guilty of his murder.
All that was left of Mr Saunders was his leg sticking out of the chipper when emergency services arrived at a property north of Brisbane in November 2017.
Roser, 63, did not deny Mr Saunders was murdered during his five-week trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
Roser said he had ‘shamefully’ helped dispose of the body in the chipper and then lied about it, telling police it had been an accident at work.
However, Roser accused another man – Peter Koenig – of killing Mr Saunders while they were clearing trees on the Goomboorian property near Gympie.
The jury began deliberating on Tuesday afternoon and found Roser guilty with Mr Saunders’ family and friends present on Friday morning.
A jury has found Gregory Lee Roser (pictured left) with co-defendant Sharon Graham guilty of murder
Bruce Saunders, (pictured) died at a rural Queensland property north of Brisbane in November 2017.
The Crown claimed Sharon Graham asked her lovers Roser and Koenig to kill her ex-partner Mr Saunders and make it look like an accident in an attempt to claim his $750,000 life insurance policy.
Roser said he refused despite pressure from Graham and Koenig to murder the ‘happy go lucky’ Mr Saunders.
However, Koenig claimed Roser had repeatedly pelted Mr Saunders with a metal bar as they completed work on the property.
Koenig told the court that he helped carry the body to the chipper because Roser had a bad back.
Koenig said he fed Mr Saunders into the machine and left his legs sticking out to make it look more like an accident.
“Just to leave a bit of Bruce… for the police to see,” he said.
Emergency services were confronted with a horrific scene when they arrived at the property (pictured) near Gympie, north of Brisbane, in November 2017
Saunders was killed after becoming involved in a ‘love square’, the court heard.
Graham lived with Mr Saunders, albeit in separate bedrooms, and was in a relationship with Roser, while he also had an “intimate relationship” with Koenig.
Sir. Saunders was still “touched” by Graham, the court heard, and drew up his will and life insurance in her favour.
Graham, 61, and Roser had pleaded not guilty to murder before the former successfully applied for a separate trial.
Koenig pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder earlier this year.
Bruce Saunders (pictured) had been clearing trees on a Goomboorian property near Gympie when he was murdered