A man who presented a glamorous lifestyle on social media but lived “beyond his means” could earn $1.5 million from three life insurance policies he took out against his mother in the week before her death, as reported to a court.
Andre Zachary Rebelo is on trial for the murder of his mother Colleen Rebelo, who was found dead in her Bicton home in south-west Perth on May 25, 2020. He has pleaded not guilty.
State prosecutor Brett Tooker told the WA Supreme Court that five days after Rebelo took out the last policy against his mother, her youngest son, Fabian, found her dead in the shower of their home.
“Colleen Rebelo was a 58-year-old woman who was fit, healthy, happy and had plans for the future,” he said.
‘However, five days after Mr. Rebelo took out the third policy against her life, she was dead.
“Despite intensive investigations, the coroner was unable to determine the cause of his death, it is still unclear.”
In his opening statement, Tooker said Rebelo began processing claims on life insurance policies days after his mother’s death, and an insurer eventually referred the matter to police, believing the claim was fraudulent.
The state prosecutor told the court that Rebelo gave the insurer a forged copy of his mother’s will, in which she had named herself executor.
Andre Zachary Rebelo (pictured with Grace Piscopo) is on trial for the murder of his mother Colleen Rebelo.
State Attorney Brett Tooker told the Washington Supreme Court that five days after Rebelo took out an insurance policy against her mother, she was found dead in the shower of her home.
The court was told he also provided the insurer with requests for falsified medical information from his mother’s psychologist and left them a fake voicemail from the healthcare professional that sounded robotic.
He also allegedly gave the insurer a false forensic report about the investigation into his mother’s death, which stated that Ms. Rebelo died of a brain hemorrhage from a ruptured aneurysm.
“The coroner’s court had not completed a report at this time and did not sign the document,” Mr Tooker told the court.
“The coroner’s finding was false, it was created by Mr. Rebelo and sent to the (insurance company) because they wanted to know the cause of death before paying the claim.”
Tooker claimed that Rebelo was living beyond his means and could not pay his debts.
The court was told Rebelo worked at Coles, earned just over $20 from cryptocurrency trading and was around $40,000 in debt from personal loans and credit cards.
He was being pursued by two debt collection agencies and had failed to make rent payments after asking the property manager if the rent on the house he shared with his de facto model Grace Piscopo could be reduced.
Tooker said Piscopo was a successful and influential model whose income had largely funded the glamorous lifestyle the couple portrayed on social media.
The court was told that Ms Piscopo had almost a million followers on Instagram and another 300,000 on YouTube.
“To the outside world they were rich and beautiful, but the truth was different,” Mr Tooker told the court.
‘Andre was in serious financial trouble, had lived his life on credit, had a personal loan and credit card debt of over $40,000 and was being pursued by debt collection agencies at the time of his mother’s death.
‘Grace was a successful model, but Mr. Rebelo was not up to par with her, he had debts that he could not pay.
‘He said he was a fountain of knowledge about cryptocurrency trading.
“They represented beauty, money, travel, a baby and a perfect life, but the reality was very different.”
Tooker said that at the time of his mother’s death, Rebelo must have thought his world was closing in around him.
Colleen Rebelo (pictured) “was a 58-year-old woman who was fit, healthy, happy and had plans for the future”, the court heard.
Piscopo was a successful model and influencer whose income had largely funded the glamorous lifestyle the couple portrayed on social media.
He said this led Rebelo to take out three life insurance policies against his mother and become a 100 percent beneficiary of those policies.
“The premiums had to be paid on all three policies, and when money started coming out of his account and he couldn’t keep up, he had to act, so five days later he killed his mother and three days later he started applying those policies. ” he said, setting out the crown’s case.
Tooker said when emergency responders arrived at Rebelo’s home after her youngest son found it, there were no obvious signs of death or forced entry.
He said that while Rebelo’s death was unexpected, it was not treated as suspicious until the insurer reported the fraudulent claim to police months later.
The prosecutor told the court that Rebelo’s mobile phone data places him in the vicinity of his mother’s house between 10:33 and 11:44 on the day of his death.
He said the data supported the state’s case that Rebelo killed his mother and then cleaned up the scene to make it look like she collapsed in the shower.
The court was also told that Rebelo did not answer or reply to several “angry” text messages from his ex-partner which were sent between 11.10am and 11.25am on the day of his mother’s death.
Defense lawyer Anthony Elliott argued in court that many people had more debt than his client and questioned whether that made someone a murderer.
“The state’s case will claim that he didn’t answer his phone because he couldn’t,” Mr Tooker said.
“He was about to kill his mother or he was about to make it look like she had collapsed in the shower.
‘The state’s case is that Andre killed his mother and then staged it in the shower to make it look like he suffered a medical episode, collapsed and died in the shower.
‘He had a motive to kill his mother. The evidence reveals that he was in a bad financial situation and was desperate to maintain his image.
‘He took out three life insurance policies on his mother’s life.
“The timing of her death is an important piece of the puzzle, less than a week after he took out the policy she was dead.”
Defense lawyer Anthony Elliott argued that the prosecutor had made colorful claims about his client’s thoughts before his mother died.
Elliott told the court that one thing the defense did not dispute was that his ex-partner was a successful model and social media celebrity.
He said the number of followers he had on Instagram and YouTube earned him the “mega influencer” label and that his client and Ms. Piscopo were a very successful team.
“He was the loving father to his young son and the executive assistant who helped keep Team Piscopo’s social media presence running smoothly,” she said.
‘When it ran smoothly, it made money. Suggestions that he was not keeping pace are suggestions that I ask you to consider critically.
The defense told the WA Supreme Court that Andre Zachary Rebelo and his ex-partner Grace Piscopo (pictured) were a successful team running a social media presence that generated substantial income.
Elliott told the court that Rebelo and Piscopo were running a successful social media presence that generated substantial income.
He said when examining the financial situation it was a question of whether these loans put his client in a desperate financial situation or were working capital for a profitable social media business.
“Look at the quality of any financial problem, you decide if it was serious or if you were crippled,” he said.
Elliott told the court that the income Piscopo earned or that mega-influencers like her could earn would put Rebelo’s financial position in a much broader context.
He also argued that the State claimed it could prove who in connection with Ms. Rebelo’s death, but not how.
“One thing to consider is to think about how you can prove that someone killed a person, but not how they did it, if you can’t exclude natural causes of death,” he said.
“Mr. Rebelo denies having caused his mother’s death; it is possible that you still have no better idea than you do now of how she died.”
Elliott said there were many people in greater debt than Rebelo, but questioned whether that made a person guilty of murder.
He said his client admitted to engaging in questionable behavior to collect premiums on life insurance policies and had tried to conceal those crimes during a police interview that did not concern the crime of murder.
“What do we know about how Colleen died or when she died or if anyone, much less Andre, was there at the time of her death?” he said.
‘What do we know about whether or how someone caused her death, and what do we know about whether Colleen Rebelo was alone when she died?’
The trial continues.
