Rebelo ‘didn’t tell siblings, police’ he was the last to see his mother alive: prosecutor

The cross-examination of Andre Rebelo has just begun in his Supreme Court of WA murder trial.

The 28-year-old is accused of killing his mother, Colleen Rebelo in 2020, to cash in $1 million in life insurance policies he’d created in her name just days before her sudden and unexplained death.

He has agreed he was at his mother’s Bicton home for 45 minutes on the day she died, and could have been the last person to see her alive.

Prosecutor Brett Tooker: Did you tell your siblings that?

Rebelo: No

Tooker is detailing how just hours after his visit, at around 2.30pm, his older brother called him and told him their mother had been found dead in the shower by their younger brother when he returned home from work.

Rebelo arrived at the house a short time later, but allegedly failed to tell his sister or brother that he had been there just hours before and had had a coffee with their mother.

“I don’t remember much of the afternoon conversations to be honest,” he said.

Rebelo also failed to mention to police that he had been at the house earlier that day, claiming he was “in shock” and that they only asked him a couple of questions about the door being locked.

At a family meeting the next day, Rebelo again did not mention to his three siblings that he had been with his mother, and that she was “alive and well” just hours before she was found dead.

Earlier witnesses have recounted seeing Rebelo’s car parked outside the house that day around 11.30am, and his mobile phone pings indicated he was in the area.

He claims he was dropping a bag of clothes to his younger brother, although no clothes were ever noticed and his younger brother was not aware he was dropping anything off. Rebelo also ignored repeated calls and messages from his partner during the visit.

Tooker has accused Rebelo of hiding the visit from family and police because he killed his mother while he was there, and then placed her slumped body into the shower.

Rebelo denies the murder.

We’ll bring you more updates from the courtroom throughout the afternoon.