Alleged mum killer Andre Zachary Rebelo couldn’t fund glamorous lifestyle portrayed on social media with model partner, court told

A man accused of killing his mother for money could not fund the glamorous lifestyle he portrayed on social media and was bankrupt when he was arrested for her murder two years after she died, a court has been told. Andre Zachary Rebelo is on trial for the murder of Colleen Rebelo, who was found dead in the shower of her Bicton home in Perth’s southwest on May 25, 2020. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge. During the trial, the court was told that Mr Rebelo lived a glamorous lifestyle with his de facto, model Grace Piscopo, that was funded by credit cards and personal loans. The court was told that Ms Piscopo was a successful model and social media influencer, but Mr Rebelo had lived beyond his means and was unable to repay financial obligations. Ms Piscopo is not accused of any wrongdoing. WA Police forensic accountant Darren Stammers investigated the couple’s financial records for a three-year period until June 2020. The court was shown about a month after Ms Rebelo died, the couple had a combined debt of $121,000 and little money in their savings accounts. Mr Rebelo was being pursued by debt collection agencies after he failed to make repayments on his credit card and personal loan. Mr Stammers said it was fair to say Mr Rebelo was in financial hardship, which was likely compounded by Covid. During questioning from defence lawyer Anthony Elliott, Mr Stammers told the court that he only examined documents he was given by investigators but would have asked for other relevant information. He said he did not ask for any information about Ms Piscopo’s future contracts or make inquiries with her management agency to see what contracts she had. “Ms Piscopo was receiving regular payments from modelling agencies, it was a substantial amount and reflected individual accounts,” he said. “It was the volume … she was doing more work for more customers.” Mr Stammers said he could not comment on whether the payments had anything to do with Ms Piscopo’s exposure on social media. He confirmed to Mr Elliott that he did not have information about trips Mr Rebelo and Ms Piscopo took and were paid for by others or gifts they received in that context. He told Mr Elliott that he did not examine personal items such as handbags worth thousands of dollars each or artwork and other household items. Under re-examination, Mr Stammers told the court that he did not see any significant balances in the three years that he examined Mr Rebelo’s cryptocurrency trading accounts. The WA Supreme Court was told police discovered Mr Rebelo had taken out three life insurance policies against his mother in the week before she died in which he stood to gain $1.15m from her death. Three days after she died, he started the claims process to gain money from the policies. One of the insurers suspected the claim was fraudulent and reported it to police. An investigation led to Mr Rebelo being charged for forgery offences in October 20, 2020. He declared bankruptcy on March 31, 2022, and was arrested for his mother’s murder on November 22, 2022. Mr Rebelo pleaded guilty to submitting forged documents to one of the insurers but denied killing his mother. The prosecution has argued Mr Rebelo’s debts led him to take out three life insurance policies against his mother. State prosecutor Brett Tooker told the court that when money started coming out of Mr Rebelo’s account to pay for the premiums he had to act, which is why he killed his mother five days later. While Ms Rebelo’s death was sudden and unexpected, it was not treated as suspicious by first responders who attended her home, the court was told. Her cause of death has never been determined despite auxiliary testing being performed at her autopsy. Medical experts including Ms Rebelo’s GP Niall Barrett and endocrinologist Timothy Welborn both gave evidence in the trial, telling the court that Ms Rebelo was healthy when she died. Both witnesses said it was unlikely Ms Rebelo died suddenly from medical conditions she had been living with at the time of her death. Forensic pathologist Reimar Junkerstorff performed Ms Rebelo’s autopsy and told the court that he could not rule out Ms Rebelo dying from asphyxiation or being smothered. Mr Rebelo’s defence team argued that traces of focal subendocardial interstitial fibrosis found on Ms Rebelo’s heart meant she could have died from cardiac arrhythmia, causing her to collapse and die suddenly. The trial continues.