Andre Rebelo murder trial: Man accused of killing his mum for money has trail of digital breadcrumbs laid bare

The trail of digital breadcrumbs left behind by Andre Rebelo — the cryptotrader accused of murdering his own mother for money — have been laid out for the jury set to decide his fate. Mr Rebelo has been on trial at WA’s Supreme Court for weeks, listening to prosecutors lay out the case which they say proves he took out $1 million in life insurance policies against his mother Colleen a week before she mysteriously died. They say those two circumstances were no coincidence, alleging her shock death was deliberately caused by her son — whose fabulous online lifestyle with partner Gracie Piscopo masked tens of thousands of dollars of debt. And his actions in the days and weeks after — hounding the insurance companies and then forging documents to try get them to pay out — have also been laid out in detail. On Thursday, Sergeant Troy Coumbe from WA Police’s tech crime unit broke down their searches of Mr Rebelo’s computers, seized as part of the extensive investigation into his mother’s death. And while detailing his internet search history and downloads, Sergeant Coumbe also noted some apparent long gaps in those histories. Leading to suggestion from prosecutors there may have been deletions before the devices were seized. Among search terms found on the computers included “Coroners terminology for aneurysm”, “Perth Australia death certificates”, “How may people die in WA each year” and “Online voice generator text to speech”. The last term is said to relate to a robotic voice message, left with RAC Insurance, said to be from psychologist Narina Sidhu. She was the psychologist who had treated Mrs Rebelo, and who the insurance wanted to check some details with. But she told the court she had never made that call, although a criminal charge relating to it was eventually dropped by prosecutors. Other terms searched on the seized iMac were “Brain aneurysm death” and WA’s coroner’s court — relating to a forged cause of death certificate, supposedly signed by coroner Michael Jenkin — which was in fact created by Mr Rebelo. “What to do when life insurance company is being difficult,” was also typed into the Google Chrome browser. Sergeant Combe also told how on digging into the computer’s search history before and after Mrs Rebelo’s death. In two months between November and December 2019, more than one thousand pieces of data were visible — showing searches as diverse as teething rash, Hoyt’s movies, Instagram and a “luxe Ivanna silk two piece”. But from December 2019 to July 2020 — a month after Mrs Rebelo died — there was just a single search visible on the history, around Coronavirus. “(History deletion) is quite simple — it is part of the settings,” Sergeant Coumbe said. “There are plenty of options as to what they want to delete.” When police searched Mrs Rebelo’s laptop, they found no searches or references to any life insurance policies – and could also not find leads to an email address featuring her name — colleen.d.rebelo@gmail.com Prosecutors say Mr Rebelo created that himself, and then used it as part of his attempt to claim on the $500,000 policy. 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 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 come to an arrangement 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. 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. The trial continues.