Richard Leman murder trial: Witness describes ‘silent’ gunshot killing

A North Canterbury woman has described the moment she says she watched Michael Scott Rodger shoot her mate, Richard Leman, to death in her living room.

Morgan “Molly” Grant said the shooting was silent and she only knew Leman had been struck when his “puffer jacked puffed out”.

“Then he just sat back down ... and he was dead,” Grant said in court today at Rodger’s trial for murder.

Michael Scott Rodger. Photo / RNZ

Leman’s partial remains were found in the boot of his car at an abandoned house in Rangiora in April 2023.

After a police investigation, Rodger, 49, was charged with murder.

It is alleged he shot and killed Leman – a father of three – at Grant’s property and then “decapitated and dismembered” him.

His trial began last week in the High Court at Christchurch before Justice Jonathan Eaton and a jury.

Rodger has pleaded not guilty to murder and claims Sara Plimmer and Morgan “Molly” Grant are responsible for Leman’s death.

He said he went to Grant’s house on April 11, 2023, and Leman was “already dead”.

The court heard last week that after his arrest, Rodger told people that the women and police were setting him up.

Plimmer gave evidence last week about Leman’s death. She was a friend of his and the pair had spent the day together before travelling to Grant’s house.

Richard Leman. Photo / Supplied

Grant, also a friend of Leman, began giving evidence this morning.

The jury heard last week that she has already been convicted in relation to Leman’s death.

She admitted to cleaning up the scene and said she assisted Rodger during his disposal of Leman’s body.

She was charged with being an accessory after the fact to this murder and has already been sentenced for that offence.

Today she was called to give evidence about her friend’s violent death in court.

Before Leman and Plimmer arrived at her house on April 11, she had been messaging Rodger, she said.

She said she was not really expecting Leman at her house that evening.

He had been at her place the day before and went to get them lunch, but never returned.

About 9.25pm she messaged Rodger for him to “come over” because she “wanted to get high”.

When she heard Leman’s vehicle pull up outside her house, she messaged Rodger again and said, “Richard just showed up”.

“I didn’t know if he was coming over or not because he didn’t reply,” Grant said.

She said she disclosed that Leman was there because she had previously told Rodger she was home alone and wanted to let him know the circumstances had changed.

“I was just being honest,” she said.

Grant said she later deleted the message on Rodger’s orders.

The jury previously heard there was “animosity” between the men.

Grant said the pair had “a blip” but she was not worried about them being in the same location.

Leman's car parked in the garage of the vacant property in Rangiora. Photo / George Heard

Leman and Plimmer arrived with food from Burger King, and the women sat in Grant’s room and ate, watching television.

Leman hunted around the house for something he could fashion a pipe with to smoke methamphetamine.

It is alleged that Rodger arrived and confronted him in the living room.

Grant described what she says happened next.

“I recall hearing arguing and looking at Sara and saying, ‘Who the f**k’s that’ … I yelled out … ‘Who’s that?’ No one replied," she said.

“I got out of bed and walked into the lounge to see Mike standing there with a gun, and he was … waving it … telling (Leman) that he’s been talking s**t about him and to shut the f**k up.

“Richard stood up; he was teetering … I didn’t hear a shot … I just remember seeing Richard’s puffer jacket puff out on the side, and Richard just fell to a sitting position on the couch."

Grant said the gun was black and “didn’t make a sound”. She suspected it was fitted with a silencer.

“I only say that because I was standing right next to (Rodger) and I didn’t hear the shot,” she said.

“(It made) no sound ... I saw the puff before I even realised it was a shot. It wasn’t loud ... like a gunshot.

“(Leman) just sat back down, and he was dead.”

“I said to Mike, ‘Did you just kill him?’ and he said, ‘No, ssshhh’. I freaked out and walked into my room.”

Grant told Plimmer that Leman had been killed.

She said she had to repeat herself three times before Plimmer realised what was happening.

“I can’t explain seeing someone die ... but he was gone. There was nothing there,” she told the court today.

“Mike came in (to the bedroom) after me and had a gun to my head and threatened to kill both of us.

“He said, ‘I should just kill both of you right now’.”

Grant said she was “confused” by Rodger’s threat as she had known him for a long time.

After that, she said, things were “a bit of a blur”.

“Mike ... was going in and out. He was looking for Richard’s drugs and money,” Grant recalled.

Richard Leman. Photo / Facebook

“I recall Sara going out there and looking at (Richard). She wasn’t out there for long; she just needed to see for herself he was dead.”

Grant said she, Rodger and Plimmer smoked the victim’s methamphetamine soon after the alleged murder.

She said “self-preservation” stopped her from calling 111.

“I’d just seen my friend get killed. He was dead. I had a gun to my head ... I could only save myself at that point. Your brain just goes into survival mode - there was nothing I could do for Richard,” she said.

“If he didn’t die straight away, I wouldn’t have just left someone struggling and just listened to it. There’s no way.”

Grant said that later, Rodger “wanted to hide Richard” and dragged him into a spare bedroom.

She felt “trapped” in her home and felt she could not leave.

Grant told the court that she did not see Rodger move Leman’s body from her house.

She told the jury that he drove Leman’s car away and noticed the body was gone around the same time.

She said it “made sense” that Leman had been put in his own boot as she could not see anyone else in the vehicle with Rodger.

“I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to be in this situation… it was a lot of stress to deal with.

“I didn’t know quite how to cope with everything.”

She was uncomfortable in her home after the alleged murder.

“It didn’t feel like my home anymore… it felt yucky,” she said.

Grant said that Rodger spent a lot of time at her home after Leman’s death.

She did not feel she could tell him to leave.

“I just watched him murder my friend and put a gun to my head,” she said.

She later lied to the police when she gave her first statement about Leman.

Plimmer also lied when first spoken to - but later told police what really happened.

“In the first police statement - I just followed what Sara said: that they came, bought me dinner, hung out for a little while and left,” Grant explained.

“We were both at risk of being killed.”

Michael Scott Rodger is on trial for murdering and dismembering Richard Leman and dumping his body in his own car at a vacant North Canterbury. Photo / RNZ Pool

After a while Grant decided she was not going to lie anymore.

“I came to a stalemate in my own mind - allowing Mike the power over me for my whole life by threatening to kill me… I was essentially giving him the power over me for the rest of my life, and I’m not ok with that,” she said.

“I believe he was trying to frame me for what he had done… I didn’t deserve tha,t and I was over it.

“It was about taking my own power back… I refuse to let someone like that scare me and think they can threaten me and threaten my life… once you start agreeing to that and being scared of someoen you give them the power of your mental health and I’m not ok with that.”

Grant said after she was arrested she came clean.

“I told the truth,” she said.

“We were just trying to survive… It’s easy to sit and judge someone’s actions… until you’re in that situation… it’s s**t... I didn’t want to be killed."

The trial continues.

Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast, A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz