A Perth man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his mother to claim life insurance money he set up in her name.
Andre Rebelo, 29, will spend at least 25 years in prison for the “premeditated” and “monstrous” murder of his 58-year-old mother, Colleen.
On Tuesday, a Western Australian Supreme Court justice handed down the sentence for Rebello’s “callous” and “violent” murder plot of Colleen, whose body was found by her youngest son Fabian under a running shower at her Bicton home in May 2020.
“You staged your mother in the shower to make it look like she had died of natural causes. In doing so, you stripped her of dignity,” said Justice Bruno Fiannaca.
The court heard that Rebelo, a supermarket delivery driver turned crypto currency investor, was heavily in debt, and he wanted the insurance money to be able to maintain his glamorous lifestyle on social media.
Before Colleen’s murder, Rebelo took out three life insurance policies in her name and forged her will.
While her death was initially treated as suspicious, an insurance company employee reported Rebelo to police when he tried to claim on his mother’s life insurance policies just three days after she died.
Following the trial, Justice Fiannaca said he was “satisfied” that Rebelo used “personal violence” to kill Colleen, taking her “by surprise”, and that there was evidence she had been smothered despite a coroner failing to find an exact cause of death.
It’s been reported that Rebelo showed no emotion upon learning his imprisonment fate, and he has continued to deny responsibility for Colleen’s death.
Rebelo’s twin sister Monique sent the court a victim impact statement, speaking of the toll the crime has left on her. Monique described her mother as “always putting her children’s needs above her own” and added that “you would never have known we were raised by just one person”.
“Words cannot fathom the emotional impact the last four years has had,” Monique’s statement said, describing the “heartbreak” of losing her mum, her “best friend”, and saying that “[Colleen] was the most devoted, caring and loving person.”
Justice Fiannaca described Colleen as “a devoted mother to her children and her only grandchild”, who is Rebelo’s son with his former girlfriend, Instagram model Grace Piscopo.
“The reality was in the months leading up to [the death in] May 2020, you and Ms Piscopo were in significant debt,” Justice Fiannaca said.
Despite the couple’s “carefully curated” expensive lifestyle on social media, the couple had a combined debt of over $100,000.
“The evidence supports that you wanted to project the image of a successful investor, and you wanted to contribute – to overcome the financial difficulties you found yourself in,” said Justice Fiannaca. “So you formulated a plan to take out multiple life insurance policies in your mother’s name, murder her, and claim on those policies.”
Police first arrested Rebelo on charges of forging a document after they realised he had sent insurance companies a fake will, a fake coroner’s report, two fake medical documents and created a fake voicemail pretending to be his mother’s psychologist.
Two years later, Rebelo was charged with murder, and now he has been given a combined sentence of 13 and a half years for the fraud charges but will serve that at the same time as his sentence for murder. He will be eligible for parole when he is 51 years old.
Rebelo’s father, Antonio Rebelo has said he still supports his son, stating outside the court that: “We don’t really know what happened to his mum”.
Speaking to the gravity of Rebelo’s crime, Justice Fiannaca said: “Matricide is a crime of particularly shocking nature.”
“It is a crime that right-minded people would regard with horror,” he said, telling Rebelo, “murdering your mother was the ultimate betrayal of her trust and everything she had done since she gave birth to you.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au for online chat and video call services.