Andre Rebelo murder trial: Jury retires to consider if crypto-trader is guilty of killing mother Colleen

The jury in the trial of Andre Rebelo — the crypto-trader accused of killing his mother Colleen and then claiming on life insurance he had taken out days earlier — have retired to consider their verdict. After more than seven weeks of evidence, the 12 men and women will now take as long they need to decide whether the former partner of mega-influencer Gracie Piscopo was killing his Mum while his partner was calling and texting him. Mr Rebelo’s failure to answer those repeated calls and angry messages on the morning of May 25, 2020 was highlighted by prosecutors as one of the many circumstances which pointed to the 28 year-old being guilty. But he and his defence team vigorously denied the murder, pointing to the fact that a cause of death for the 58-year-old mother of four had never been pinpointed. During the trial, the jury had heard from all those closest to Colleen, including her three other children, her sisters, her friends and even her ex-husband. They all spoke of her devotion to her four children — eldest son Julian, twins Monique and Andre, and youngest son Fabian — whom she raised mostly as a single mother. And of her high hopes for the future. After years of study, she had finally earned a Masters degree and a health board position, while her children were all grown and all working. It made her sudden death all the more shocking. The court heard that three days after that death, Mr Rebelo began calling the three insurance companies to inquire about life insurance policies in her name. They were all policies he had taken out in the week before his mother died. And in the weeks that followed, Mr Rebelo went to extraordinary lengths to attempt to claim on the largest policy — $500,000 worth of cover from RAC Insurance. Firstly, he faked a will in his mother’s name and sent it. He then concocted two medical reports from his mother’s psychiatrist and submitted them — while an AI-generated voicemail pretending to be her was also left. And finally, a fake coroner’s finding of death was emailed — which concerned RAC staff so much they contacted WA Police. On the first day of the trial, Mr Rebelo pleaded guilty to dishonesty charges relating to those documents. But he pleaded not guilty to murder, which prosecutor Brett Tooker agreed was a case based on circumstantial evidence. But still strong. He pointed to the debts piling up behind the social media posts from him and Ms Piscopo. She was earning six figures having built her social media profile on the back of brands, bikinis and beautiful things. But Mr Rebelo owed $40,000 after buying crypto on credit and she owed more than $70,000 on a Range Rover and $40,000 to the taxman. The glamorous sheen of the house and car being sent daily to Ms Piscopo’s million-plus followers was costing more than $5000 a month. And the payments on both were regularly late. As the pandemic hit in early 2020, Mr Rebelo applied to dip into their superannuation funds early, and for JobKeeper and JobSeeker for both of them. With debt collectors circling “like sharks”, Mr Tooker said Mr Rebelo came up with a horrible plan. Life insurance, then murder, then money. And phone data records showed that Mr Rebelo was at or near his mother’s house on the last morning of her life — while one of Colleen’s sisters also spotted his car parked outside in the time window. After hearing from family, friends, experts and accountants, Mr Rebelo shocked many by choosing to give evidence in his own defence. And during five days, he admitted he had repeatedly lied to his family and the insurance company. But he had done that not because he was guilty of murder, but because he feared his mother had committed suicide — thus invalidating the insurance policy. He said his mother had specifically asked him to take out those life insurance policies on her behalf. And that was one of the things they had talked about, when he had been at his mother’s house on May 25, 2020. But he insisted he hadn’t killed her. The father-of-one said “no” before his lawyer Tony Elliott could even complete the sentence asking if he killed his mum. Mr Elliot also asked Mr Rebelo if knew how the mother-of-four died, replying: “I have no idea.” Under three days of cross examination, he answered “no” dozens of times to contentions put to him. And that cross examination began with questions about why he had not told his siblings — or the police — that he had seen his mother alive on the morning she died. “You were desperate to get a payout?” Mr Tooker asked. “All of this evidence about suicide is something you have made up isn’t it,” Mr Rebelo absolutely denied he had. Mr Tooker questioned why Colleen Rebelo would ask for so much insurance cover, with premiums totalling hundreds of dollars a month, when she was happy and healthy, but still financially struggling. He asked why Mr Rebelo would begin paying for the policies himself, when he was supposedly setting them on his mother’s behalf. And he pointed to the timing of her death — just days after all three insurance policies were generated by her son. “The timing is not a coincidence is it?,” Mr Tooker asked. “There is no reason known to you why she would die suddenly. A week later she just happened to die?” Mr Rebelo’s answer was short: “That is what happened, yes”. In a dramatic finale, Ms Piscopo was also called to give evidence and insisted her former partner had told her that morning where he was going. “Everything I do is for my son . . . I’m following my heart . . . to tell the truth the best I know to help everybody,” she said. “I’m telling my truth the best I can.” Mr Tooker said she had come to court to help her former lover and the father of her child. “She would want Romeo to have a father in his life, and would want to help him to the extent that she could,” he said. “His story has become her story. And all those other details are her trying to toe the line with Andre’s version of events.” After retiring just after 4pm, the jury then said they would prefer to begin deliberations afresh on Wednesday morning.