Prosecutor recalls Rebelo’s debt and desperation as marathon murder trial draws to a close

He told his trial his mother was concerned about approaching 60 and wanted her children and only grandchild to be protected financially in the event of her death.

But he set up the repayments to come from his own account, which Tooker said made no sense.

“Given the financial situation he was in, why on Earth would he sign himself up for that?” Tooker said in his closing address.

“His mother was a healthy woman. She could have lived for years and years.”

On the witness stand, Rebelo told the jury his mother was planning to pay for the insurance premiums herself.

But during his closing address on Tuesday, Tooker said that was “rubbish”.

“She couldn’t afford those premiums any more than [Rebelo] could,” he said.

Tooker told the jury the case was “more nuanced” than simply “financial need or greed”.

He said Rebelo had been left behind while his then-partner, Instagram model Grace Piscopo, was gaining online popularity and financial success.

Despite Piscopo’s income reaching six figures by 2020, Tooker said the couple had over-extended themselves financially with a flash home, car, clothes and accessories.

“Just because you’re earning a big income, does not mean you’re doing well,” he said, claiming the couple had funded their success on credit.

Tooker also told the jury that Rebelo’s motivation for killing his mother for money was linked to Piscopo’s fame.

“His situation stood in stark contrast to hers. His immediate income came from her. She was the model, creator – he was her assistant who worked behind the scenes,” Tooker said.

“He was primary carer of [their son] and Grace didn’t treat him well.”

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Tooker told the jury Rebelo was “subservient” to Piscopo and that he clung to the one thing that set him apart from her – cryptocurrency trading – and styled himself as an expert in the field by creating YouTube videos and writing an e-book.

The reality was that he was far from an expert, Tooker said, with three years’ effort yielding nothing but a $22 deficit.

Tooker told the jury that, despite this, Rebelo told Piscopo he had made a lot of money and that there was more to come.

“After three years of sinking money into crypto, he was under pressure of delivering something substantial,” Tooker said.

“A pot of gold. The mythical lamborghini.”

Tooker said Rebelo funded his crypto trading business with borrowed money from a credit card and a personal loan that, by early 2019, he was unable to service.

“Debt collectors were circling like sharks,” Tooker said.

“Bombarding him with texts, letters and calls – he tried to avoid them, but it must’ve felt like the walls were closing. Pressure was mounting.”

And so Rebelo’s plan to take out three life insurance policies in his mother’s name and then take her life and claim them was formed, Tooker said.

Tooker told the jury the suggestion that Rebelo was asked by his mum to take out the insurance policies for her was “ridiculous”, and she was “capable of doing it herself”.

“But she didn’t. She wasn’t involved,” he said.

Rebelo had also claimed that he told his mum she did not need $1.15 million worth of cover, but that he took the policies out for her anyway.

“It was just lie after lie after lie,” Tooker said, noting to the jury that Rebelo had named himself as the full beneficiary of two of the policies.

“He wanted the money all for himself and this is why he acted secretly. He did not tell anyone he was taking out the policies,” he said.

Tooker said, “timing was a critical piece of evidence” as he recounted how the insurance policies were taken out over three days less than a week before Ms Rebelo died.

“Mr Rebelo did not just get lucky – he is not Nostradamus. He can’t tell the future any more than you or I can. It was all part of his horrible plan,” he said.

“But once he had taken that first step he had to follow through, or he would be paying those premiums for months or years. He had to act fast.”

Recounting the day Ms Rebelo was found dead in the shower of her Bicton home, Tooker told the jury that while Rebelo had staged her death to make it look like a medical incident and “acted carefully”, “he made a lot of mistakes that reveal the truth about what happened”.

Tooker pointed to police photos of Ms Rebelo’s body which showed her lying outside the shower wearing make up, jewellery – including a gold watch – her hair still tied up, and a bath mat still draped over the bath.

Tooker told the jury that if Ms Rebelo had collapsed while showering, it was unlikely she would have fallen to her knees with her head resting against the wall – the position her youngest son Fabian testified he found her in.

“If she had a medical episode, feeling faint, feeling bad in the shower, you’re not going to take yourself down to your knees on a tiled surface,” he said.

“That’s not how it works. People don’t collapse on their knees.”

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Tooker said Rebelo began claiming on the life insurance policies – which none of his siblings knew about – just three days after his mother’s death.

“He acted covertly, deceptively, fraudulently, desperately,” Tooker said.

“He applied psychological and emotional pressure, and he lied repeatedly.”

Closing statements and judge’s directions are expected to last the rest of the week before the jury begins their deliberations.

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