Andre Rebelo murder trial: Julian Rebelo reveals ‘strange’ dealings with younger brother after mum’s death

Colleen Rebelo’s firstborn son has detailed the “strange” dealings he had with his younger brother in the weeks after their mother’s death — a death which was allegedly a murder committed by her son Andre for money. Julian Rebelo flew in from Europe and arrived at WA’s Supreme Court on Monday to give evidence in the case against his brother. And that evidence detailed how he, in his role as executor of his mother’s estate, paid for her funeral, combed through her finances and dealt with the WA coroner following the shock passing in May 2020. As those difficult days proceeded, Mr Rebelo described a series of incidents which left him asking questions. Those questions included whether anyone had taken their mother’s driver’s licence, whether anyone had redirected her mail, why Andre had called the coroner’s office and for more details about a life insurance policy Andre claimed to have found. The answers he received from Andre included that he had called the coroner, and he had moved the mail. “I was concerned something fraudulent was happening,” Julian told the court. And he was right — with Andre having now admitted that he had forged documents in order to try and claim on three life insurance policies that he had taken out a week before she mysteriously died. The elder Rebelo brother said he knew nothing about any of those policies and was not told about them apart from an email about one with ANZ, which Andre also admitted he had rung the coroner about. “That did stand out as strange to me because we did not have an insurance policy at that time,” he said. “This (call) was surprising. He had no reason to be involved, and I was not aware he was involved.” While the younger Rebelo has admitted fraud, he denies murder — with a cause of death for his mother never established, despite intensive tests. Julian told the court it was while he was trying to square away his mother’s affairs, that he went looking for her driver’s license which had previously been bundled together with other cards. But it was gone. He asked his sister whether she had seen it. She said he hadn’t. He told the court he never saw it again. In fact, the court has been told that Andre took it, and sent copies of it to RAC Insurance after underwriters asked for identification proof. “Did he tell you he was trying to claim $500,000,” prosecutor Brett Tooker asked. “No he did not,” was his answer. “Did Andre tell you he created a fake will?” Mr Tooker also asked. “No, he did not,” was again the answer. Mr Rebelo said ultimately the Bicton property which had been the long-time family home was sold in 2021 for just over a million dollars. He also confirmed that there had been no offers for the house, or any rush to sell in 2020 when Andre was telling an insurance company he needed a report urgently because of pressure from a real estate agent. The trial had earlier heard that in the years up to May 2020, Mr Rebelo and his partner and social media influencer Gracie Piscopo appeared to the world to be living a luxurious and successful life in Perth but were in fact riddled with debt 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 arrange 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. And 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 a Range Rover Evoque car. And by June 2020, the pair in total owed more than $112,000. It was in August 2020 that police were first called in, to initially investigate a possible fraud. And Detective Sergeant Jason Hutchinson gave evidence about electronic devices seized — and searches made — as part of the operation. Included in some of the searches made on Mr Rebelo’s laptop were the words “coroners”, “aneursym causes”, “inquests” and “word doc assist”. And on Ms Piscopo’s laptop were photographs taken on the day of the alleged murder, which showed her together with Mr Rebelo at 8.07am — but no pictures of him on that day after that time. The trial continues.