A obsessed man rigged up “secret surveillance devices” to spy on his housemate before stabbing her to death, a court has been told.
Sheldon Rodrigues, 30, was allegedly angry that 39-year-old Stephanie Hansen was seeing a married work colleague and embarked on a campaign to disrupt the relationship.
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, jurors were told.
The situation allegedly came to a head when Rodrigues learned cargo agent Ms Hansen’s boyfriend had visited her while he was at work.
Shortly before 6am last December 30, Ms Hansen’s lover, father-of-three Celso Cabillan, left her house in Hayes, west London.
Shift worker Rodrigues had been at work the night before but was listening in on the couple’s date with a Micromax phone hidden in the living room, it was claimed.
He arrived home at 6.50am and shortly after “exploded with rage and brutally attacked” Ms Hansen, who was still in her pyjamas in her bedroom, prosecutor Gareth Patterson KC said.
He told jurors: “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.”
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.
I do like you but just not enough
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.
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
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.”
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.
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”.
But later that evening, he was searching the internet for “how to make a woman fall in love with him”, the court was told.
Rodrigues, of Willenhall Drive, Hayes, west London, denies murder. The trial continues.
