A woman accused of asking two men to kill her ex-partner for financial gain allegedly told friends he was "pathetic" but "had money" and "she would get everything" if he died, in the months before his body was lodged inside a woodchipper, a jury has heard.
Bruce Saunders died while he was clearing trees with two men, Peter Koenig and Gregory Roser, on a rural property in Goomboorian near Gympie in November 2017.
Mr Roser and his partner at the time, Sharon Graham, are on trial in the Supreme Court in Brisbane for the 54-year-old's murder, and both have pleaded not guilty.
A Supreme Court jury has already heard the prosecution have alleged Ms Graham "procured or counselled" Mr Roser, and Mr Koenig, who was her friend, to murder Mr Saunders so she could claim his life insurance policy.
The trial has also heard Mr Koenig pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder earlier this year and is expected to give evidence against the other two next week.
It is alleged by the prosecution that Mr Roser struck Mr Saunders with a metal bar, before both men put his dead body in the woodchipper, in a bid to make it "look like an accident".
On Tuesday, the court heard evidence from several people who knew Ms Graham and Mr Saunders, including the owner of the property where he died, and that woman's granddaughter.
Keira-Lee Beighton told the court that in late August of 2017 she was at her grandmother's home and was involved in a conversation with Ms Graham about Mr Saunders.
Ms Beighton told the court she recalled Ms Graham laughing about Mr Saunders' attempts to win her back in text messages and had described him as "pathetic".
She also recalled Ms Graham remarking he was "more stable" than Mr Roser.
"She didn't want to be with him, but he had money," she said Ms Graham had told her.
The court heard Ms Beighton also told police about other comments allegedly made, including "it's not my fault [Mr Saunders] loves me and wants to give me everything" and because he was older, he would "die first and she would get everything".
The woman's grandmother, Sharon Beighton, who had been friends with Ms Graham for several years, testified about the moments after Mr Saunders had died.
Mrs Beighton told the court she was asleep at the time but woke up when Mr Roser and Mr Koenig came to her front verandah, some distance from where the woodchipper was on the property.
"Peter said 'there's been an accident'," she said.
"Greg said to me — 'I tried to save him, I tried to pull him out'."
Through tears she told the court she called triple-0 because the men had not.
"I said [to the operator] my friend's gone through the chipper or something like that," she said.
Mrs Beighton said Mr Roser then made claims to her that Mr Saunders was "being dangerous" while he worked and had called him an "absolute idiot".
"Standing on the chipper, leaning back into it … that's what he told me," she said.
The court heard evidence that Ms Graham had asked Mrs Beighton to tell Mr Saunders to take her out of his will, but he refused as he wanted her "to be looked after".
Ms Graham's lawyer has already told the court his client denies any involvement in a plan to murder Mr Saunders, and believed his death was an accident.
While Mr Roser's lawyer said his client had conceded Mr Saunders was murdered, and that he helped dispose of his body, but argues the killing was carried out by Mr Koenig.
The trial continues.
