Andrea Giesbrecht 'saved' babies, says defence lawyer in dead infants trial

The lawyer representingAndreaGiesbrechtsaid his client was saving the bodies of sixbabies from being disposed of at a garbage dump, not trying to conceal them.

Giesbrecht, 42,is chargedwith six counts of disposing of thedead body of a child with intent to conceal the fact its mother deliveredit. OnOct. 20, 2014,staff at a U-Haul centre discoveredthe decomposing remains of the infants in a storage lockerGiesbrecht rented.

"To make sure they are kept in a storage locker is to make sure they don't end up in a garbage dump. It's saving. Not disposing of them," said her defence lawyer, Greg Brodsky, in his closing arguments on Wednesday.

Conceal means to hide, it does not mean to keep. Dispose means to get rid of, not to save,said Brodsky.

"There's no evidence the [babies] breathed. There's no evidence [they] cried," he added.

Crown prosecutorDebbieBuors argued thedead infants found in a Winnipeg storage locker were"carelessly packaged" and "cast aside", hidden away and unloved by the woman who did everything to conceal all of her pregnancies.

• Winnipeg U-Haul locker contained 6 dead babies

Giesbrechthaspleadednot guilty to the charges and is being tried before a provincial court judge. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of two years.

Brodsky said it's not clear who initially stored the babies in the locker and his client did not hide pregnancies from her husband and friends.

"She was having abortions and taking her friends along," Brodsky said."She wore ordinary clothes and whether it was boring or not is irrelevant. It wasn't for the purpose of concealing a pregnancy."

BuorstoldJudge MurrayThompson the Crown has proven its case and there should be convictions entered in all six counts of concealing bodies.

TheCrown doesn't need to prove the babies wereborn alive, only that they wereborn at astate of development that would suggest they werelikelyalive, Buors said, adding the Crown must also prove the remains were being concealed.

If the Crown could prove the babieswere definitely born alive "we'd be here on a whole different set of charges," Buors said.

"Andrea Giesbrecht is the person who had sole possession of that storage locker from the time she rented it," Buors said.

"Ms. Giesbrecht was trying to conceal these remains. She was hiding them. She was not saving them as my learned friend [defence lawyer GregBrodsky] suggested."

Buors saidGiesbrechtison security footage paying for the storage locker and there are knownphone calls made
to her about the storage locker. She also received mail to her home aboutit, Buors said.

The Crown said the babies may have been born between the birth ofGiesbrecht's first son in2002 and the therapeutic abortions she had in 2009 and 2011.

"When you look at all the evidence that's before the court, especially the medical evidence, it's clear Mrs. Giesbrecht is aware of how to get pregnant, how to give birth," said Buors.

Remains from all six infants were linked toGiesbrechtand her husband after a DNA sample was taken from anapkin found in thecouple's bedroomand compared to DNA found in the storage locker.A forensic biologisttestified the biological father of the infants was JeremyGiesbrecht.

On Aug. 31, a forensic pathologist who helped review autopsies of the remainstestified that there wasn't enough evidence to confirm or deny whether the infants were born alive.

Accused tried to hide smell: Crown

Giesbrecht was trying to mask the smell of the decomposing remains but when she wentinto default with payments to the locker, shewas no longer able to access the locker and take care of the smell.

Andrea Giesbrecht 'saved' babies, says defence lawyer in dead infants trial.

8 years ago

Duration 1:11

The lawyer representing Andrea Giesbrecht said his client was saving the bodies of six babies from being disposed of at a garbage dump, not trying to conceal them.

During the trial, witnesses testifiedthat most of the remainswere found in garbage bags that were stored inside other bags orcontainers.

Experts testified they could not determine a cause of deathbecause the remains were so decomposed.

The trial began April 18 and was drawn out over the past five months, in part, due to numerous delays, including a member of the prosecution falling ill.

Other delays related tolegal concerns over how much detail from conversations betweenGiesbrechtand her husband, JeremyGiesbrecht,could be disclosed in testimony.

• Andrea Giesbrecht 'stressed out' over delays in infant remains trial, lawyer says

In the end,Jeremy Giesbrechtwasnot asked about those conversations during his last day of cross-examination on Aug.31.

He did, however, testify thathis wife wore "boring" clothes, adding hewas unaware his wife hadbeen pregnant several times over the years, apartfrom the two children they have together.

Buors, however, told Thompson that JeremyGiesbrecht's evidence is suspect and should be taken with a grain of salt.

"It's hard to believe he did not know she was pregnant with these six babies," Buors said.

• AndreaGiesbrecht'strial halted as husband considers waiving spousal communication privilege

The trial has heard that Giesbrecht had 10 therapeuticabortions between 1994 and 2011, a number confirmed by her lawyer.

In the opening days of the trial,Const. Danielle Aessie testifiedshe saw a small hand, and "felt what could possibly be a head,"wrapped inkitchen-style garbage bags stored in large household containers in the storage locker. Aessiewas in chargeof collecting exhibits from the scene in October of 2014.

PatrolSgt. Cory Fordtestified that, as the first officer on the scene, he recalled astrong "smell of decay" coming from the locker.

• Officer testifies about finding toys with body parts

Judge MurrayThompson is expected to make a decision onGiesbrecht'scase in February 2017.