[Image: Instagram]
A broke cryptocurrency trader who murdered his own mother to cash in on A$1.15 million (R13,5 million) in life insurance policies, conveniently set up just a week before she died, will now spend 25 years behind bars.
Andre Zachary Rebelo, a wannabe financial whiz, was found guilty of killing his mother, Colleen Rebelo, in her Bicton home in May 2020. A jury saw through his lies after a grueling seven-week trial in the Perth Supreme Court last year, the NZ Herald reported.
He denied the murder, but on day one of the trial, he had no choice but to plead guilty to four counts of insurance fraud, admitting that he forged documents in a desperate attempt to collect a $550,000 payout from one policy.
On Tuesday – his 29th birthday, no less – Rebelo received his gift from the justice system: a 25-year prison sentence.
Justice Bruno Fiannaca didn’t hold back, calling the crime “the ultimate betrayal” of a mother who had done everything for her four children.
“It was the betrayal of the person who brought you into this world, her children, and her grandson,” Fiannaca said, going in hard. “You are someone who is able to deceive in the most egregious way and manufacture evidence to achieve your ends.
“Your evidence should be approached with caution … You are not a credible or reliable person.”
Fiannaca noted that while the exact method of Colleen’s death remains unknown, the evidence pointed to Rebelo using personal violence to kill her before staging her body in the shower to make it look like natural causes.
“You took your mother by surprise using personal violence,” he said.
“I am not sure what state of dress your mother was in, whether you removed her clothes does not matter: what you did next was a gross violation of her dignity.”
Colleen Rebelo was found dead in her shower on May 25, 2020, and from the start, her son’s behavior was nothing short of suspicious. Justice Fiannaca pointed out that Rebelo was relentless in his pursuit of the insurance money, growing increasingly desperate as the process dragged on.
“You killed your own mother, in a particularly egregious and shocking nature,” he said.
“This is a crime that right-minded people would regard with horror. Murdering your mother was the ultimate betrayal of her trust and everything she gave.”
During the trial, the court heard that Rebelo had been in a high-profile relationship with influencer Grace Piscopo, a model who flaunted a seemingly glamorous lifestyle on social media. But in reality, the couple were drowning in debt, racking up $112,000 in credit card bills and personal loans.
Rebelo was being hounded by debt collectors when his mother died. Piscopo, for the record, is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Adding to the twisted irony, it was Rebelo’s youngest brother, Fabian, who found their mother’s lifeless body in the shower. First responders didn’t treat the death as suspicious at the time, and an autopsy failed to determine a cause of death.
Rebelo might have gotten away with it if not for an insurance company employee who smelled something fishy in his claims. That suspicion led to a police investigation, which unraveled his entire scheme.
Police discovered that just a week before his mother’s death, Rebelo had quietly taken out three life insurance policies on her, making himself the sole beneficiary. Days after she died, he wasted no time filing claims, “doggedly pursuing” one policy worth A$500,000.
To secure the payout, he faked a coroner’s report, forged a psychologist’s medical assessment, and even produced a bogus last will and testament. Classic.
While he eventually admitted to fraud, Rebelo stuck to his story that he didn’t kill his mother, but the jury didn’t buy it.
On Monday, state prosecutor Brett Tooker laid it all out: Rebelo had been playing the crypto game for three years, but instead of striking it rich, he was bleeding money.
He tried to convince Piscopo that he was about to make $550,000 from trading, when in reality, his financial house of cards was collapsing.
According to the state, it was when COVID-19 hit that Rebelo decided to go all-in on a new, much darker investment strategy: life insurance fraud.
Tooker said the motive was clear: to convince Piscopo he was a crypto success story, wipe out his debts, and keep the trading dream alive.
“His main motivation to come up with this plan was to prove to Ms. Piscopo he was a successful crypto trader, he would make a large amount of money and contribute financially,” Tooker said.
“His motive shows it was a very calculated and cold-blooded killing.”
While handing down the sentence, Justice Bruno Fiannaca reportedly told Rebelo in court, per ABC, “The persona you had created alongside Ms Piscopo was more important to you than your familial connection to your mother.”
“It was a premeditated offense, a monstrous act that was integral to a fraudulent scheme,” Fiannaca added, per the outlet.
In a victim impact statement, Rebelo’s daughter spoke about the deep bond she had with her grandmother and the enormous loss she has suffered.
Rebelo’s sister called the murder an unthinkable tragedy – that after everything their mother had done for her children, she was repaid with betrayal and death.
Rebelo’s sentence was backdated to November 22, 2022, the day he was taken into custody. Now, instead of crypto millions, he has 25 years in a prison cell to reflect on his “investments.”
[Source: NZ Herald]
