A failed Perth crypto trader who killed his mother in a sinister plot to cash in on more than $1 million in life insurance policies he took out in her name and forging her will has been jailed for life.
Andre Rebelo, 29, learned his fate on Tuesday, almost four months after his mammoth trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia where a jury found him guilty of murdering his mother, Colleen Rebelo.
Handing down the sentence, Supreme Court Justice Bruno Fiannaca said Andre’s “monstrous act” was an “incomprehensible betrayal of the person who had brought you into the world.” Andre was jailed for life but will be eligible for parole after 25 years.
Andre Took Out Three Life Insurance Policies in Colleen’s Name Before Her Death with Him as the Sole Beneficiary
Colleen’s body was found in the shower of her Bicton home in Perth’s southern suburbs in May 2020 by her younger son. She did not have drugs in her system or any physical injuries. Colleen’s death wasn’t treated as suspicious and the cause was never ascertained.
It wasn’t until Andre tried to claim on his mother’s life insurance policies just three days after she died, that an insurance company employee reported him to police. Police discovered Rebelo had taken out three insurance policies against his mother in the week before shedied and as the sole beneficiary, he was placed to pocket more than $1 million from her death.
Rebelo was the sole beneficiary of the three policies he had taken out in Colleen Rebelo’s name, and stood to gain more than $1 million from her death.
Andre Racked Up Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Debt to Maintain Social Media Influencer Lifestyle
The jury sided with prosecutors, who claimed Andre had failed in his promise to his then girlfriend, Instagram-famous social media star Gracie Piscopo, that he would be successful, and was a man driven by tens of thousands of dollars of debt.
Rebelo had promised Ms Piscopo that he was expecting to bring home $500,000 from crypto currency, when he wasn’t making anywhere near that figure, according to the prosecutor. Instead, the prosecutor claimed he developed a plan to kill his mother for money so he could continue to pursue the appearance he was living the “perfect life.”
Andre was taken into custody and charged with murder in November 2022. Rebelo claimed he looked into life insurance policies at his mother’s insistence.
But, before the start of the trial, he did concede he had had forged documents to try and cash in on those policies in the days after his mum’s death. Ms Piscopo was not accused of any wrongdoing.
