A woman whose body was found under a running shower in her ensuite bathroom may have been smothered, her son’s murder trial has been told, with some of her injuries consistent with blunt force trauma.
Colleen Rebelo, 58, died in her Bicton home in 2020 and her death was not initially considered suspicious, until police were alerted to the life insurance policies her son Andre had taken out in her name in the weeks before her death.
He was charged with her murder in 2022 as well as a series of fraud offences, but at the start of his trial the court was told he had admitted to forging documents relating to her death, including her will.
Suffocation ‘may not leave mark’
Forensic pathologist Reimar Junckerstorff, who carried out the post-mortem on Ms Rebelo, told the court on Thursday while he had been unable to definitively determine how she died, he could not rule out asphyxia as the cause.
He said people could die of asphyxia or suffocation without there being marks on the body or changes in the brain.
Pathologist Reimar Junckerstorff identified a number of injuries on Colleen Rebelo during her autopsy. (ABC News: David Weber)
Small spots detected on her eyelids could be explained by asphyxia, and other injuries could have been caused by “pressure applied to the front of the head”.
Earlier, Dr Junckerstorff told the court he had discovered a bruise near Ms Rebelo’s right eyebrow and an abrasion near her left which were typical of “blunt force injury”.
He said they likely happened as she fell and “fitted with collapse-type injuries”.
Dr Junckerstorff also found small red bruising injuries near her left hand and wrist, and right hand, and while they appeared “fresh”, he warned that “visual dating is very unreliable”.
Andre Rebelo admitted a series of fraud offences relating to his mother Colleen’s death, including forging her will, but has denied murdering her. (Facebook)
No skull fracture was detected, there was no bleeding in the brain, no broken bones or signs of a heart attack, nor were there significant abnormalities in her organs or evidence of a drug overdose or self harm.
Dr Junckerstorff said he was not ultimately able to work out the cause of death.
The trial is continuing.
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