05 December 2023 , 17:08
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A man rigged up "secret surveillance devices to spy on his housemate before stabbing her to death" as he was furious she was seeing a married work colleague, a court has heard.
Sheldon Rodrigues, 30, allegedly embarked on a campaign to disrupt Stephanie Hansen's relationship. A court heard he bought spy devices, used the name of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to send an abusive message via Facebook and complained to their employer, the aviation firm Swissport.
But the jury heard the situation came to a head when Rodrigues learned cargo agent Ms Hansen's boyfriend had visited her while he was at work. It is then when Rodrigues, a shift worker, is said to have listening in on Ms Hansen's date with Celso Cabillan with a Micromax phone hidden in the living room of the property in Hayes, west London.
The 39-year-old woman lived with the defendant in London (Metropolitan Police / SWNS)Gareth Patterson KC, prosecuting, said the defendant came home from work, "exploded with rage and brutally attacked" Ms Hansen, who was still in her pyjamas in her bedroom on December 30, 2022.
The 39-year-old woman was stabbed multiple times, the court heard, and suffered serious head injuries due to "severe force". Mr Patterson KC said: "She was stabbed multiple times into the neck. She was battered repeatedly to her head and face with a blunt object or objects. She suffered serious head injuries that involved the use of severe force."
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Mr Patterson said the defendant denies being the killer but there is a "wealth of evidence" that he is responsible. After Rodrigues's arrest, police uncovered messages showing his "long-standing obsession" with Ms Hansen, the court was told.
In 2015, he told her "I want u" and she replied "nope", jurors heard. In 2021, he wrote: "It hurts to see you every day knowing you'll never like me", to which she responded: "I do like you but just not enough."
He appeared not to accept the rejection, offering to change and have surgery to alter his looks, the court was told. On one occasion, he sent her a weblink to a see-through "boob tube" top which he said he was going to buy for her and rip off, it was claimed. She responded with the message "yuke".
In April 2021, the pair moved into a house in Willenhall Drive, Hayes, to share bills. Messages between them suggested there had been some intimacy but Ms Hansen only wanted to be friends.
She wrote: "I knew it was a mistake the first time we went to bed. I should never have done it." The defendant begged for another chance and told her he would wait 50 years for her, the jury was told.
Ms Hansen wrote: "All this time u been asking me to move in with you and since we have, I have wanted to move out." By late 2022, Ms Hansen was in a relationship with Mr Cabillan, which "angered" the defendant, the court was told.
Rodrigues, who worked as a cargo agent at another firm near Heathrow, used a phone hidden in a television unit as a listening device, Mr Patterson said. He spent 158 hours listening in on Ms Hansen while he was at work or visiting India, where he was born, averaging three hours a day, it was claimed.
Last November, he allegedly emailed Swissport under a fake name to complain that Mr Cabillan was "loitering" about and trying to have an "affair" with his partner.
He followed up with another email alleging employees were smoking cannabis at work. Jurors were told he bought a "Spycamera" device later found at the house.
Mr Patterson said: "Examination suggests the defendant used this device to try to make secret recordings inside the house, again showing his ongoing obsession with Stephanie Hansen and desire to monitor her relationship with her new boyfriend."
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A "spy plug" covert listening device was also found on a shelf in the defendant's bedroom, the court was told. On December 8, the defendant allegedly used the name Jamie Oliver to message Ms Hansen's boyfriend via Facebook saying his girlfriend and child would be kidnapped, jurors heard.
Two days later, he paid a man £100 to drive him around in a car and follow Mr Cabillan, it was alleged. Father-of-three Mr Cabillan realised he was being followed and reported it to police but the defendant denied it.
On December 20, Rodrigues allegedly messaged Ms Hansen to say he had been a "psycho". Later that evening, he was searching the internet for "how to make a woman fall in love with him", the court was told.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Mr Cabillan leaving Ms Hansen's home early on December 30. The defendant was later to claim Mr Cabillan was the killer and wrote a letter to Swissport saying: "He killed my housemate Stephanie Hansen the night he stayed at the house. I found her upon returning home."
Mr Patterson said she was alive and well after Mr Cabillan left, as she sent a string of text messages and used Siri on her phone. She did not leave the house to go to Westfield shopping centre as she had planned, and WhatsApp messages from Mr Cabillan after 7am went unread, jurors were told.
While Ms Hansen's body lay in her bedroom, the defendant visited Boots for bandages for a "deep cut" to his hand which he said he got from "household work", the court heard. Rodrigues, of Hayes, denies murder. The trial continues.