Alleged mum killer bankrupt months before arrest, court told
Written by admin on October 29, 2024
A man accused of killing his mother to gain money from life insurance policies he set up against her had declared bankruptcy after her death, a court has been told.
The WA Supreme Court was told Andre Zachary Rebelo portrayed a life of luxury with his model defacto Grace Piscopo on social media, but the prosecution argued he was in debt trying to fund a “plastic” lifestyle on credit cards and personal loans.
Mr Rebelo is on trial for the murder of his mother Colleen Rebelo who was found dead in her Bicton home on May 25, 2020. He has pleaded not guilty.
He allegedly took out three life insurance policies against his mother in the week before she died then started the claims process to access the premiums days after she died.
He pursued one of the claims worth $500,000 submitting forged documents to expedite the payout from the insurer.
The court was told the insurer suspected the claim was fraudulent and reported it to police.
The jury heard Mr Rebelo pleaded guilty to fraud, but denied killing his mother.
The financial position of Mr Rebelo and Ms Piscopo was revealed in court on Tuesday, which showed Mr Rebelo had barely any money in his savings account a month after Ms Rebelo was found dead in her home.
WA Police Financial Crime Squad investigator Darren Stammers examined the couple’s financial records over a three-year period from June 2018 until June 2020.
He told the court on Tuesday the couple had a combined income of about $339,000 mostly earned through Ms Piscopo’s modelling career during the three years, but a month after Ms Rebelo died the couple had no savings, with a combined debt of $112,000.
The couple had credit cards and personal loans, which they increased during the three years, as well as Afterpay and ZipPay accounts adding to their financial burden, Mr Stammers said.
Mr Rebelo was being pursued by debt collection agencies, and the couple had missed rental and car payments on a Range Rover eVoque Ms Piscopo bought with a personal loan in 2018.
Mr Rebelo declared bankruptcy in March 2022, he was arrested about eight months later, the court had been told.
The jury has heard while Ms Rebelo’s death was sudden and unexpected, it was not treated as suspicious by first responders who were called to her home when she died.
Medical experts including Ms Rebelo’s GP Dr Niall Barrett and endocrinologist Timothy Welborn both gave evidence in the trial, telling the court 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 Dr Reimar Junkerstorff who performed an autopsy on her body was unable to determine Ms Rebelo’s cause of death, despite auxiliary testing.
Dr Junkerstorff told the court he could not rule out that Ms Rebelo died from asphyxiation or was 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 suddenly and die.
The trial continues.
