Andre Rebelo: Accused says he dropped off clothes at mum Colleen’s home then left before she died

Andre Rebelo — the man accused of murdering his mother for the money he needed to upkeep his fabulous online lifestyle — has for the first time detailed what he says happened when he saw her alive for the last time. Mr Rebelo is into the second day of his evidence in his defence of the charge of murdering his mother Colleen on May 25, 2020. The prosecution case alleges he was in $40,000 of debt — his partner Gracie even more in the red — and payments on their luxury house and car had been late in the months leading up to May 2020. And so according to prosecutors, Mr Rebelo took out three insurance policies against his mother’s life, totalling $1.15m — killed her — and then tried to claim on the largest of them just days after her death. To do that, he set up Gmail addresses in the names of his mother and brother Fabian, and then submitted forged medical forms and a coroner’s report to RAC insurance — whose suspicions were handed to police. On Monday, Mr Rebelo admitted that he had lied to “police .. my family … my siblings. “In broad terms, I lied to the insurance company and forged many documents,” he said. “Lied to the police. “Lied to my family, including Grace, my siblings, I suppose, many employees of the insurance companies.” On Tuesday, Mr Rebelo made more admissions, including that he had indeed been to his mother’s house on the morning of the day of her death. Prosecutors say it was in a short window of time up until 11.30am that he killed his mother in her own home. But under detailed questioning by his own lawyer, he gave his own version of that morning for the first time since being charged with murder in 2022. Mr Rebelo told the jury he was at the house dropping off clothes for his brother, including hand-me-downs from high end online brands hoping for a boost from Mr Rebelo’s influencer partner Gracie Piscopo. “I made my way to the living room area and saw Mum there, she was in the dining room area,” he explained. “We said hello, she said: ‘Would you like to have a coffee’, and I said ‘Of course I’ve got time’.” After discussing the existing COVID protocols, Mr Rebelo said he then discussed the life insurance policies he had taken out in her name, and chatted about her garden before showing his mother photographs of his son on his phone. That was when Mr Rebelo said he first noticed a string of missed calls and texts from Ms Piscopo. “That was a constant topic for Gracie, and I had my phone on silent and not on vibrate,” Mr Rebelo said, because of the sleeping habits of his young child. “You only had to have him woken up once or twice to know it was not a good idea.” It was then Mr Rebelo said he had to leave, and he did, with an embrace. “We had a quick hug — love you, see you,” Mr Rebelo said. He said he had not returned until he was contacted by his brother Fabian later that day, informing him of his mother’s death. And he has always denied murdering his mother – whose cause of death has never been pinpointed, despite a detailed post-mortem. Asked earlier about the life insurance policies, Mr Rebelo insisted he had taken them out at his mother’s request, and with his mother’s knowledge. “(She asked me) Can you look online – get me the best deal I can get,” Mr Rebelo said. “She knew about them – and I told her about them at one point.” But not his siblings – older brother Julian, twin sister Monique and youngest brother Fabian. The topic did not come up in that timeframe “Julian – we rarely spoke. Monique was in Kalgoorlie – we spoke semi regularly. And I wouldn’t have a conversation of this nature with Fabian,” he said. “We were brothers who had lives. “He would not have cared too much – he is not too … concerned with that business or financial stuff.” Asked about errors in the applications, Mr Rebelo said at the time he had been “sleep deprived” from looking after his young son. And quizzed about why his details appeared in some of the applications – including his bank details – Mr Rebelo said his computers at home regularly “auto-filled” details. Mr Rebelo also admitted setting up the Gmail addresses used in some of those communications to the insurance companies, and the Coroner’s Court. Two of those, Mr Rebelo said, were done without knowledge – of his brother Fabian and his mother’s psychologist Narina Sidhu. But the one in his mother’s name, he said, was done for her to help in her new job. “It was a bit of a process, I thought it was worthwhile … iiNet was not user friendly, so I thought I would help her out.” The trial continues.