A robot voiced phone call allegedly fabricated by Andre Rebelo weeks after his mother’s death to try to access her life insurance has been played to the jury in his murder trial, as the woman he impersonated gave evidence that the 28-year-old repeatedly harassed her over the matter.
Rebelo is on trial over the death of Colleen Rebelo, 58, who suddenly died of unknown causes at her home in Bicton in May, 2020.
Andre Rebelo and his then girlfriend Grace Piscopo and his mother Colleen Rebelo.
He denies killing her, but has admitted faking documents, including her will and medical documentation a life insurance company required to release a policy worth $500,000. The policy was one of three he took out in her name the days before her death.
But after he was told he needed proof Ms Rebelo was not suicidal for one company to honour the claim, Mr Rebelo set out on a mission, the Supreme Court of WA heard on Wednesday.
Just six weeks after his mother was found dead in her en suite shower by younger brother Fabian, Mr Rebelo contacted his mother’s long-time psychologist Narina Sidhu, the court heard.
“I was offering my commiserations about his mother,” Sidhu told the court on Wednesday.
“But all he wanted to do was talk about the insurance policy, I was quite surprised.”
Sidhu claimed Mr Rebelo wanted her to call the insurance company and leave a 30-second voicemail stating who she was and that she had treated Ms Rebelo for a number of years and that in her opinion the 58-year-old was not suicidal.
“There was some urgency, from the way he was talking,” she said.
“But I had no relationship with him, I had never met Andre before, so I was not prepared to do anything until he came in, and we could speak about it in person.”
The court was then shown Sidhu’s phone records. Mr Rebelo had attempted to call the psychologist 21 times in four days between July 7 and July 10, followed up with text messages urging her to make the call to the insurance company.
A court sketch of Andre Rebelo during his murder trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.Credit: Anne Barnetson
He then failed to go to an appointment with her.
After a two-week hiatus, Mr Rebelo tried to call Sidhu again about the insurance policy. He couldn’t get through and made five more attempts before texting her, “Hi Narina, did you get a chance to call and leave a short message regarding my mum today? Is somewhat urgent. (not sure why they couldn’t get in touch with you) feel free to call me if you have any questions.”
Sidhu told the court she was ignoring Mr Rebelo because she had made it clear she would not proceed with the call until she had met him in person.
He attempted to call her again and the following day she had 13 missed calls from him.
The day after that he called her 21 times.
And on Friday, July 24, he tried to call her 10 times.
He had an appointment with Sidhu booked for the 22nd but did not show up.
Instead, he allegedly turned up at the psychologist’s home when she was not working with his young son Romeo in tow. She was outside gardening at the time.
Psychologist Narina Sidhu treated Colleen Rebelo with counselling.
“Did you tell him that you weren’t going to see him unannounced on that day?” prosecutor Brett Tooker asked her.
“Absolutely,” she replied.
“Once you told him that did he leave?”
“Yes.”
A week or so later, Sidhu sent Mr Rebelo a text message explaining she had been made aware of fraudulent emails and reports that had been sent to the insurance company using her name and signature, stating: “I am very concerned about these acts of fraud and will be making a report to the police. I am not sure who has done this, but I am letting you and Monique know about the situation.”
Rebelo replied with: “Hi Narina, I appreciate your concern, but I never sent any emails of the sort. I only told them what you told me but never claimed to be you. We are all aware of the claim so nothing is fraudulent. Please call me if you like.”
While on the witness stand, Sidhu was also played a voicemail message that had been sent to AIA Australia, an insurance company.
In it, the person stated: “So sorry it’s taken a while to call back. Just on a morning walk and I am very busy today so will be quick. I can confirm my email information for Colleen; she only saw me for general counselling, nothing serious, and she certainly wasn’t suicidal at all. I hope this helps the Rebelos’ claim. Andre has told me about their current financial struggles, so I am hoping for this to work out for them. Have a great day.”
The court previously heard the police later found evidence Mr Rebelo had searched for “fake voice generator” and “best online deep fake voice”, with Tooker telling the jury on day one of the trial the message sounded “robotic” and had been created with a text-to-speech program.
The insurance company was suspicious about the claim and contacted the police, who later arrested and charged Rebelo with fraud and murder.
Colleen and son Andre were ‘distant’
During her testimony on Wednesday, Sidhu told the jury she had given Ms Rebelo counselling and mental health support on and off for years in the lead up to her death.
She told the court the single mum of four was financially stressed as she struggled to pay her mortgage and that she would often be “overwhelmed”.
When asked by Tooker if Ms Rebelo was ever suicidal, Sidhu told the jury she had “suicidal ideation from time to time, but every time I checked in with her, she had no plans to do it.”
When asked how Ms Rebelo would describe her relationship with her children, Sidhu said the 58-year-old was closest to Monique, her only daughter.
“[Monique] was a source of huge support to her,” the psychologist said.
Monique, Andre and then-girlfriend Gracie Piscopo, Fabian and Colleen Rebelo.
“Julian was more independent, and she was close to Fabian, but they had lots of disputes over taking medication and his diabetes.
“She was most distant with Andre, but she loved them all.”
Sidhu said the last time she saw Ms Rebelo was about a week before she died when the mother was standing at a bus stop opposite her house. The psychologist waved at her as she was walking her dogs.
Professionally, she last saw Ms Rebelo in August 2019, telling the court it was the happiest she had seen her.
“She had been studying and she had a good job coming,” Sidhu told the court.
“I was so happy that things were coming together for her.”
Two lawyers give evidence they did not create a will for Colleen Rebelo
Two Perth lawyers also gave evidence on Wednesday that they had never met Colleen Rebelo nor Andre Rebelo, and had not created or signed a will for Ms Rebelo before.
Ryan Ashoorian and Dirk Avery’s names were on a will in the name of Ms Rebelo that was shown to the jury.
It was dated March 2, 2010, with Ashoorian testifying he was not yet a lawyer at that time.
Both men testified the signatures on the will were not theirs and the addresses were unknown to them.
“Is that your signature?” Tooker asked Avery.
“No, nothing like it,” he responded.
“Does that address bear any relevance to you?”
“None at all.”
The trial continues.
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