Forensic pathologist to examine ‘new information’ for Andre Rebelo’s appeal case

1 month ago 16

New information regarding Andre Rebelo’s appeal against his murder conviction has been brought forward by a family member more than a year after he was found guilty of murdering his mother.

Rebelo was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in jail after being found guilty of the “deceitful”, “callous” and “violent” murder of Colleen Rebelo following a trial in the WA Supreme Court in November 2024.

He also pleaded guilty on the eve of his trial to several fraud charges relating to Colleen’s will and life insurance policies he had taken out in her name.

An appeal filed in May last year homes in on a theory that the hot water in the shower was still running when Colleen’s body was found by her youngest son Fabian proved Rebelo could not have killed her in the time period the prosecution alleged.

The appeal focused on the testimony of Rebelo’s older brother Julian, who told the court their mother’s hot water system was “an older-style storage hot-water system”, which would have given “30 to 40 minutes’ continuous hot water capacity”.

“The significance of those matters in combination is that someone must have turned on the hot water to the shower by around 1.50pm or thereabouts at the latest,” the appeal read.

“In the absence of some other person entering the dwelling, the only person who could have turned on the hot water in the shower was Ms Rebelo herself.

“She could not have done that if she had been killed by the appellant before 11.40am.

“That would leave an event such as a cardia arrhythmia or an anaphylactic episode (or similar) as the only plausible cause of death.”

However, lawyers acting for Rebelo have drawn out the appeals process and on Thursday were warned their case could be dismissed if they don’t make progress soon.

During the hearing, defence lawyer David Jones told the court he was waiting on information from Dr Reimar Junckerstorff “with regard to certain material that has come to light … from a close family member”.

Colleen Rebelo was killed by her son Andre because he wanted to claim on her life insurance.

This masthead understands the new information is not in relation to the hot water system.

Junckerstorff, a forensic pathologist, gave evidence during Rebelo’s trial as a witness for the prosecution that a person could be rendered unconscious within 10 seconds then killed without a mark being left on their body using law enforcement and martial art techniques.

A post-mortem revealed no obvious cause of Colleen’s death.

During the trial, Junckerstorff said depriving a person of oxygen by blocking their airways and compressing their carotid arteries impaired blood flow to the brain.

He said the technique was once used by law enforcement and in martial arts when a person tightened their arm around the neck to suppress the carotid arteries and close them off.

“This is an asphyxia event,” he said.

“It usually won’t leave a mark, if you keep the hold long enough (you can kill a person).

“Once you are unconscious, which takes about 10 seconds, within minutes there are irreversible changes in the brain.”

He also said that minor injuries found on Colleen after her death could have come from her being smothered with a pillow.

Monique, Andre with then-girlfriend Gracie Piscopo, Fabian and Colleen Rebelo.

It is unclear what new evidence Junckerstorff is examining for Rebelo’s appeal, but his lawyers have been told to reconvene on Friday with a deadline about when his report will be filed for the court.