Two men have been committed to stand trial for the alleged murder of Sunshine Coast butcher Bruce Saunders, whose body went through a woodchipper on a rural Queensland property in November 2017.

Key points: Police body camera footage from the scene was tendered as evidence

Police body camera footage from the scene was tendered as evidence Peter Koenig, Gregory Roser and Sharon Graham have each been charged with murder

Peter Koenig, Gregory Roser and Sharon Graham have each been charged with murder It is alleged Mr Koenig and Mr Roser killed Mr Saunders whose body went through a woodchipper

Gympie man Peter Koenig, 62, Deception Bay man Gregory Roser, 60, and Sunshine Coast woman Sharon Graham, 57, have each been charged with Mr Saunders' murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

It is alleged Mr Koenig and Mr Roser killed Mr Saunders while they worked with him on a Goomboorian property, north-east of Gympie.

The prosecution said all three men — Mr Koenig, Mr Roser and the deceased Mr Saunders — had been in an intimate relationship with Ms Graham.

The Maroochydore Magistrates Court heard, Ms Graham had financial motivation for the murder, having recently increased Mr Saunders' life insurance and having his will written in her favour.

Peter Koenig has been charged with Mr Saunders' murder. ( Supplied: Facebook )

Police prosecutor Mick Phillips said Ms Graham had acted as a "conduit" between the accused.

Throughout the hearing the court heard from another former boyfriend of Ms Graham's, Barry Collins, via videolink from the Broken Hill Correction Centre.

Collins is currently serving a prison sentence for unrelated offences.

He detailed conversations he'd had with Ms Graham months before the alleged murder in which she asked him to "take Bruce fishing and Bruce not come back".

"She was just mucking around I thought at the time," he said.

"Originally when it was declared an accident I just believed it and thought 'well it was an accident', which is possible.

"It wasn't for quite a long time that I thought 'well, maybe there was something wrong'. I didn't want to believe they were guilty or that this did happen."

Police initially did not treat the death as suspicious. ( Supplied: Queensland Police Service )

In a statement, Collins said he'd had a further conversation with Ms Graham on a later date, where she told him "a property is going to be cleared, there's going to be an accident".

Barrister Simon Lewis questioned Collins about why he didn't think to tell police such details before 2019, and accused him of lying to try and get a lighter sentence.

Collins disagreed saying he wanted to get the information off his chest as "it was tearing at me" and "emotionally draining".

Accused claims he 'tried to save Bruce'

Sharon Beighton, whose property the men had been clearing, gave evidence at the hearing saying Mr Roser and Mr Koenig had rushed to her house in distress after the incident.

"Peter was in shock, he was perspiring profusely, he couldn't say anything, he was horrified, I could see it in his eyes," she said.

"Roser was leaning against one of the posts and just kept saying 'I tried to save him, I tried to save him'.

"It wasn't until Peter said 'call the police', I started looking for Bruce, I didn't know where Bruce was."

The family of deceased man Bruce Saunders attended court. ( ABC News: Tara Cassidy )

Ms Beighton said the men had told her Bruce "was being very dangerous with the machine throughout the weekend and Greg had had a go at him because he was standing on the machine and leaning back into it".

Ms Beighton's neighbour, Cassandra Beckers also provided evidence at the hearing, telling the court she had heard a person yelling "Oi oi, stop stop" in distress, on the day Mr Saunders died.

'He was all over the shop with details'

Mr Roser's former landlord, Karen Sharp, also gave evidence stating Mr Roser had told her about Mr Saunders' death, but had changed his story dramatically during different conversations.

"When it first came to my knowledge, he said it was an accident and that he and Peter were up one end tree clearing and Bruce was in another location, when Greg heard this horrific noise," she told the court.

"He said 'I looked over to the chipper and saw my mate in trouble and tried to pull Bruce out'.

"He was quick to say, 'I'd been telling him off all day about being on the mobile phone, I believe his sleeve got caught'."

Sharon Graham and Greg Roser have also been charged with murder. ( Supplied: Facebook )

On a later date, Ms Sharp said Mr Roser's version of events had changed, instead saying he'd been feeding branches in another area, and turned around and saw Mr Saunders slumped against a tree with a "massive gash to his head and bleeding profusely".

"He was all over the shop with details and times and things, at first I didn't take much notice," Ms Sharp said.

Gruesome police body camera footage from the scene was also tendered as evidence, along with a total of 196 witness statements, which will be used in Mr Koenig and Mr Roser's upcoming trial.

Police intercepted phone calls

On Friday the court heard from Kennards Hire employee David Wendt who rented a woodchipper to Mr Saunders several weeks before his death.

Barrister Simon Lewis suggested to the witness that Mr Saunders had a "blase" attitude toward the safety induction.

Mr Wendt agreed saying he had to warn Mr Saunders about taking the induction seriously.

Bruce Saunders' sister-in-law Robyn Duggan said he was a caring, loving father. ( ABC News: Tara Cassidy )

In his final submission to the court, police prosecutor Mick Phillips told Magistrate Callaghan, police had incriminating evidence kept from intercepted phone calls and surveillance devices.

He said it showed evidence of Ms Graham promising Mr Saunders' car to Mr Koenig, "even if me and Greg don't work out".

Mr Phillips also indicated it was telling that straight after Mr Saunders' death, both men had made separate phone calls to Ms Graham, before any calls were made to police.

Magistrate Callaghan said he felt there was sufficient evidence to commit both men to stand trial for murder.

Both men were remanded in custody, with Mr Roser making a final remark saying, "your honour I am not guilty".

Mr Saunders' family, who travelled to the Sunshine Coast for the hearing, were pleased with the decision, saying "justice is on its way".

Sister-in-law Robyn Duggan described Mr Saunders as a "very doting, caring, loving father".

"He was very romantic, he would bring my sister flowers every week before she had breast cancer and passed away."

A trial date for all three of the accused is yet to be set in Brisbane's Supreme Court.

In handing down his decision, Magistrate Chris Callaghan said he felt there was sufficient evidence to commit both men to trial.

He told the court, parts of the forensic evidence was not consistent with the men's stories and he felt their actions following Mr Saunders death were out of the ordinary.

"The first call after the so-called accident was not to the ambulance or police, but instead the first call was to Ms Graham," he said.

"All before also alerting the property owner that this had occurred."

He said other evidence which suggested Mr Saunders had not been using his phone around the woodchipper and Mr Koenig and Mr Roser's overly similar account of events to police, also added to his decision.

He said he was satisfied a jury could potentially find the men guilty of murder based on the initial evidence he had heard.