WA news LIVE: Andre Rebelo takes the stand in his murder trial
Returning to the WA Supreme Court now, where murder-accused Andre Rebelo is continuing to give evidence after opting to take the stand in his own defence this morning.
Rebelo has given the jury a glimpse into the life of a successful Instagram model.
Andre Rebelo and his then girlfriend Grace Piscopo.
He says then girlfriend and mother of his child, Grace Piscopo, was employed through an agency called Neon Models who facilitated contracts between her and clothing and accessories brands.
Piscopo would then negotiate figures for either a one photo assignment or a series over the course of six months.
“They would say, pick out 20 pieces of clothing, post four photos, one a week, for X amount of dollars, post the photos at a set time on a set day, and then you would get paid an advance and then the rest at the end,” Rebelo told the jury.
He added that along with business posts, a ‘lifestyle blogger’ would have to post personal photos “to make it seem authentic”.
Rebelo revealed Piscopo would command figures of between $40,000 and $100,000 for a six-month contract and would often be gifted free goods, trips and flights.
He claims she was once contracted to fly to the Maldives to make a YouTube video, which was all expenses paid and that the couple often flew to Sydney and Melbourne for events.
A “bankrupt” Rebelo is accused of murdering his mother, Colleen Rebelo, in May 2020 in an attempt to maintain him and his girlfriend’s “plastic existence”.
He denies killing Colleen, but admits to fraudulently setting up several life insurance policies in her name in the days before her death, and then going to extreme measures to try and claim them.
