Andre Rebelo murder trial: Perth man accused of killing mum Colleen for money went bankrupt before her death

The desperate financial woes of Andre Rebelo — the crypto trader and social media star accused of killing his mother for money — have been laid bare for the jury who will decide his fate — including a declaration of bankruptcy months before he was charged with murder. In the years up to May 2020, Mr Rebelo and his partner Gracie Piscopo appeared to the world to be living a luxurious and successful life in Perth, complete with a bouncing baby and beautiful home to go with the bounty and bikinis. But, WA’s Supreme Court have spent the past weeks hearing a very different picture — one of a man with little income living a “plastic fantastic” lifestyle paid for on credit. That, according to lead prosecutor Brett Tooker, led Mr Rebelo to take out three life insurance policies in his mother’s name in the week before she died — and then killed her in her own home. Her death in May 2020 devastated her other children, family and friends. But evidence has shown that just three days after her death, Mr Rebelo was on the phone to the policy holders inquiring about a payment. Those inquiries continued for months. And included the discovery of a forging of his mother’s will, false medical certificates, a coroner’s report he created himself, and a robotic voice message claiming to be his mother’s psychologist Narina Sidhu. Mr Rebelo admitted to forging the documents. But still denies murdering his mother and then placing her body in the shower, to be later discovered by his younger brother. On Tuesday, WA Police forensic accountant Darren Sammers continued his evidence, detailing what he discovered when he dissected the 17 bank accounts held by Mr Rebelo and Ms Piscopo in the three years leading up to the alleged murder. They included savings accounts, credit cards and loans. And in June 2020 – the month after Mrs Rebelo’s death — the bottom lines were entirely in the red. Mr Rebelo owed more than $40,000 — mainly on a credit card that had been cancelled, and a personal loan with the ANZ Bank which had been called in. Debt collectors spent months, and dozens of phone calls, trying to get the loan paid down. And when Mr Rebelo finally did come to an arrangement to pay off the $33,000 debt — to pay off half up front and then monthly instalments — the first two payments were dishonoured. In his savings accounts, at June 2020, Mr Rebelo had $17.58 in one account, and $23.82 in another. Tables shown to the jury showed that Ms Piscopo’s debts were even bigger. In three years, her total assets had reduced from more than $10,000 in credit to more than $70,000 in debt — mainly due to the purchase of Range Rover Evoque car. She also owed $8,000 on an American Express card. By June 2020, the pair in total owed more than $112,000. And Mr Rebelo’s cryptocurrency trading was also breaking even at best, with analysis showing that over three years, and dozens of trades, he was $22 down. More figures showed that from 2018 to 2020, the couple applied for 20 different lines of credit from various financial institutions. 14 of those were knocked back, including personal loan applications of Ms Piscopo for amounts including $15,000, $30,000, $12,000 and $20,000. Meanwhile, from December 2019 to June 2020, Ms Piscopo’s savings dwindled from $21,000 to $80. “It is fair to say that Mr Rebelo was in a position of financial hardship during an extended period,” Mr Stammers said. “Particularly from the second half of 2019 ... he defaulted on his credit card and his personal loan, and was identified as delinquent and subject to recovery agents “Mr Rebelo’s income sources ... were below the Australian average in amounts and they were probably insufficient to cover his expenses. As a result he spent more than he was earning.” In March 2022, Mr Rebelo applied to be declared bankrupt — citing his debts of over $40,000, and likely earnings of about the same in the next year, in his cited role as a ‘Media Producer’. Later that year, he was charged with his mother’s murder. On May 25, 2020 the healthy, fit, happy mother-of-four was found dead in the shower of her Bicton home. Medical records also showed she was not suicidal. “They appeared to have it all — beauty, money, travel, a baby — the perfect life,” Mr Tooker said in his opening statement. “The reality was much different. Andre Rebelo portrayed himself as successful, but the reality was that in early 2020 he was in a dire financial position. “It is the State’s case that on social media, they portrayed their lives as glamorous — to the outside world they were rich and beautiful. “But the truth, as it so often is on social media, was somewhat different. “In pursuit of this plastic existence he had lived his life on credit.” After asking for rent relief in early 2020, dipping into his superannuation — and Mr Rebelo even applying for Jobkeeper payments, the prosecution says, he made the “fateful decision” to take out the life insurance policies against his mother. And then, as those payments began to be come out of his dwindling bank account: “He needed to act”. “His girlfriend — Grace Piscopo — he wasn’t keeping up with her. He had debts he couldn’t service and a lavish lifestyle to maintain. “He had bankrolled his social media profile with other people’s money. It must have seemed like the walls were closing in on him. “This is why five days later, he killed his mother.” The court was told that Colleen Rebelo’s cause of death has never been able to established. The trial continues.