Ambulance Service employee Jonathan Renouf told the Royal Court murder trial of Alfredo Da Costa Rebelo (60) that the accused remained calm as he and a colleague examined Ana Rebelo’s lifeless body.
He added that the atmosphere in the flat was ‘confused’ and ‘not normal’.
Mr Rebelo (60) is charged with murdering his wife in April 2017. The Crown alleges that she was strangled with a pair of her daughter’s leggings.
Crown Advocate Howard Sharp, prosecuting, had alleged that Mr Rebelo became enraged during an argument the night before after learning of his wife’s long-term affair.
Mr Rebelo denies murder and, the court has heard, his defence counsel will argue that his wife had been depressed and killed herself in the night by wrapping the leggings around her neck.
The prosecution closed its case on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Jurats hearing the case were handed the leggings and examined them wearing latex gloves.
Mr Renouf was one of two paramedics who were first to attend the Rebelos’ St Helier flat on the morning of 4 April 2017, the night after the couple had rowed about the affair. He said the atmosphere that morning was ‘not normal’ but that Mr Rebelo was generally calm.
The second paramedic, George de Carteret, later said in court that Mr Rebelo’s response was not too unusual as ‘people deal with grief in different ways’.
Mr Renouf said that he and his colleague had initially been called to the flat to deal with a suspected cardiac arrest and realised upon arrival that Mrs Rebelo – who was still in her daughter’s bed, where, the court was told, she had slept the previous night – was already dead.
‘There were three males in the flat [other than the paramedics]. It was different, depending on who was in the room at the time. One of the sons was highly emotive and quite volatile.
‘The other two [including Mr Rebelo] I would say were very calm. It did lead to a confused situation – not a normal situation.’
He added that the paramedics cleared the room to analyse what had happened and quickly came to the conclusion that the circumstances leading up to Mrs Rebelo’s death were suspicious.
‘I asked about medical problems,’ he said. ‘We got information in broken English that she was “tired of life”. I took that to mean depressed.
‘Once we had done the initial assessment, we invited all three of them to leave the room. During that time, we removed the quilt and rolled her onto her back to look for signs of injuries.
‘That is when we noticed bruising around the mouth and neck. This was not normal. It was suspicious, as it looked like a ligature mark.’
Mr Renouf added that he was conscious of not alerting the family to their concerns but immediately called the control room to ask when the police would be arriving.
Mr and Mrs Rebelo’s daughter has also given evidence to the Royal Court.
She said that she had arrived home at around 11 pm on 3 April to find her mother in her bed ‘asleep’.
Fernanda Rebelo said that when got back to the flat she realised someone was in her bed, whom she assumed to be her mother. She could not tell for sure, as she did not turn the light on because she did not want to disturb the person in her bed. Instead, Fernanda slept on the sofa next to the bed.
She said that she briefly looked for her leggings – which she always slept in – but was unable to find them. She also told the court that she believed she heard ‘heavy breathing’ or ‘snoring’ during the night.
At around 6.30 the following morning, Fernanda’s alarm went off but the person in her bed did not stir, the court head.
The trial, which is being heard by the Inferior Number rather than a jury, continues. The Bailiff, Sir William Bailhache, is presiding and Jurats Jerry Ramsden and Jane Ronge are sitting.
