An investigator has told the WA Supreme Court that the home of alleged mother killer Andre Rebelo and his former partner Grace Piscopo was bugged by police.
Former WA Police detective Warren Jacobs gave evidence in the murder trial of Rebelo, who is accused of killing his mother Colleen Rebelo on May 25, 2020, an accusation he has denied.
Mr Jacobs told the court that police had obtained a warrant to use listening equipment in the bedroom of Rebelo’s home in Beaconsfield and an optical and audio recording device downstairs.
The devices were installed in the home from September 9, 2020 to December 7, 2020.
Mr Jacobs confirmed to lawyer Anthony Elliott that the devices were installed to see if there was any discussion between Rebelo, Ms Piscopo and other people relevant to a fraud investigation.
Mr Elliott told Mr Jacobs that even though the crime was described as fraud, the officers listened to discussions about insurance, fraud, Ms Rebelo, death, murder and anything else that could sensibly be linked to them.
“Yes,” Mr Jacobs replied.
Detective Sergeant Clinton Bragg told the court that Rebelo had googled ’causes of aneurysms’ and ‘research’ after his mother’s death.
Recording devices were installed at the home of Andre Zachary Rebelo and his former model partner Gracie Piscopo (pictured) for three months in 2020, a court heard
The cause of death of Colleen Rebelo (pictured) has never been determined, despite extensive testing by authorities. The court was told police discovered Mr Rebelo had taken out three life insurance policies against his mother in the week before she died
The court was told police discovered Rebelo had taken out three life insurance policies against his mother in the week before her death, benefiting $1.15 million from her death.
Three days after her death, he started the claims process to get money from premiums.
One of the insurers suspected that the claim was fraudulent and reported it to the police.
Mr Rebelo had submitted forged copies of a medical certificate from his mother’s psychologist, her will, along with a forged copy of a coroner’s report on her death.
He was charged with fraud in October 2020 and later charged with murder in November 2022.
He was declared bankrupt on March 31, 2022.
Mr Rebelo pleaded guilty to forgery but denies killing his mother.
Police initially investigated a fraud complaint, but began to suspect that Mr Rebelo had murdered his mother around October 1, 2020.
Sergeant Bragg said he was informed of the matter on August 31, 2020 and began an investigation, but because three months had passed since Ms Rebelo had died, police were unable to obtain any evidence from CCTV footage.
Police searched the home of Ms Piscopo and Mr Rebelo (pictured) on September 16, 2020. Ms Piscopo is not accused of any wrongdoing
He told the court that 16 days later police searched Ms Rebelo’s home, where her children Monique and Fabian were at the time, seizing laptops and mobile phones from the house.
He said her children were taken to Fremantle police station to make statements.
Sergeant Bragg told the court a search was also carried out at Rebelo’s home on the same day. The police have seized computers and laptops and taken them for questioning.
“Andre was interviewed about this incident later that evening. He was taken into custody and arrested that day,” Sergeant Bragg said.
“I went back to the homicide unit office and took Andre back to the guardhouse. I believe he has been released on bail.
‘He was charged with attempted fraud and five other forgeries and was released on bail.’
Detective Sergeant Jason Hutchinson told the court he examined a computer used by Rebelo and found activity from December 2019 to July 2020 had been deleted, including internet search history.
He said there was also no chrome history before June 2020.
Police discovered Google searches for ’causes of coroner’s aneurysm’, ‘word doc assist’ and ‘inquest’ on a computer used by Mr Rebelo (pictured with Ms Piscopo)
Sergeant Hutchinson told the court he found Google searches relevant to the case, including ’causes of coroner’s aneurysm’, ‘word doc assist’ and ‘inquest’.
A computer used mainly by Mrs Piscopo revealed photos of the couple with their son Romeo, taken at 8.07am on the day Rebelo’s mother died.
Photos of Ms. Piscopo were found on the computer at 10:24 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. There were no photos of Rebelo after 8:07 am.
During the trial, the court was told that Rebelo, along with Ms Piscopo, portrayed a glamorous lifestyle on social media funded by credit cards and personal loans.
The jury was told Ms Piscopo was a successful model and social media influencer, but Rebelo had been living beyond his means and was unable to repay his financial obligations.
Ms. Piscopo is not accused of any wrongdoing.
WA Police Financial Crime Unit investigator Darren Stammers examined the couple’s financial records over a three-year period to June 2020.
About a month after Mrs. Rebelo died, the court was shown that the couple had a combined debt of $121,000 and little money in their savings accounts.
Mr Rebelo was chased by debt collectors after he failed to repay his credit card.
Prosecutor Brett Tooker (pictured) told the court that when premiums came due and money came out of Rebelo’s account, he had to take action.
The prosecutor argued that Mr Rebelo must have thought his world was closing in on him, prompting him to take out three life insurance policies against his mother.
Prosecutor Brett Tooker told the court that when premiums came due and money came out of Mr Rebelo’s account, he had to take action.
“That’s why he killed his mother five days later, and started pursuing policies three days later,” he told the court.
Although Ms. Rebelo’s death was sudden and unexpected, it was not considered suspicious by first responders who visited her home.
Her cause of death was never determined, despite additional tests performed at her autopsy.
The defense has argued that traces of focal subendocardial interstitial fibrosis found on Ms Rebelo’s heart could have caused her to die suddenly from cardiac arrhythmia.
The process continues.