Andrea Giesbrecht gets 8 years for concealing remains of 6 infants

Andrea Giesbrecht has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for concealing the remains of six infants in a storage locker in Winnipeg.

With time already served factored in, Giesbrecht will spend another seven years and 10 months in prison.

"Giesbrecht's moral culpability is extremely high," Judge Murray Thompson said at Friday's sentencing hearing.

• AndreaGiesbrechtguilty of disposing of bodies of 6 infants in storage locker
• AndreaGiesbrechtshowed no remorse, should get 11 years for hiding infant remains: Crown

Giesbrechtshowed little emotion in court as the judge read his decision.

The 43-year-old wasconvicted in February of hiding the bodies of six infants in a U-Haul storage locker she rented. Theremains were found Oct. 20, 2014by employees at the facility, after the woman failed to pay her bill.

"She bagged each of the bodies, sealed them or encased them incement or powder, all in an effort to contain the smell of humandecomposition and decay," said Thompson.

He pointed to Section 243 of the Criminal Code, explaining the law against disposing of infant remains is to ensure that newborn deaths can be investigated. By concealing the bodies, Thompson said Giesbrechtthwarted police's abilityto determine whether their deaths occurred before or after birth.

Judge Murray Thompson delivers sentence in Andrea Giesbrecht trial

7 years ago

Duration 44:32

Andrea Giesbrecht has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for concealing the remains of six infants in a storage locker in Winnipeg

Thompson said each of the six infants represented six separate offences and Giesbrecht's moral culpability increased after the first offence. He sentenced her to six months for the first infant, one year for the second, and two years for each of the four other infants found, for a total of 9 years.

A sentence of that length would be "crushing" to Giesbrecht, Thompson said. He therefore reduced the sentence by one year, minus time served.

Sentencing arguments were presented earlier this month. The Crown soughtan 11-year sentence forGiesbrecht, while Brodsky requested she bespared any further jail time beyond the 168 days spent on remand between the day she was arrested and being granted bail.

Sentencing decision sends message

When delivering Giesbrecht's sentence, Thompson said denunciation and personal deterrence took paramount importance.

"These were newly delivered infants, our most vulnerable," he said.

Thompson acknowledged the existence of mitigating factors,including a pre-sentence report that assessed Giesbrechtas a low risk to reoffend, with a good record of employment, andrelationships with her two surviving children. These were outweighed by aggravating factors, including that these were repeated offences committed over a long period of time, andthat Giesbrechtdidn't seek help at any time during or after her pregnancies.

He also said Giesbrecht has shown a lack of remorse for the offences.

The judge also dismissed the possibility of a non-custodial sentence, noting "Giesbrecht has a well-documented history of deceiving others." Thompson singled out Giesbrecht's history of gambling addiction, two convictions of fraud over $5,000, and the deceit confirmed by the convictions for concealing the remains.

"This required a significant degree of deliberation.Concealing the pregnancies, renting a storage locker, placing each of the bodies there. She has not demonstrated any remorse," Thompson said.

When looking forsimilar cases on which to base a sentence, Thompson said most involved young women without permanent partners, often experiencing pregnancy for the first time, and who disposed of only one child. Some of these cases involved women diagnosed with a mental health issues.

"Andrea Giesbrecht is not that person. She is an outlier; a very different member of a particular group of women who concealed the bodies of children they delivered," Thompson said.

Giesbrechtreported she does not have a history of mental illness and has never been diagnosed with any psychiatric disorders.

"By disposing of six bodiesGiesbrecht is unprecedented as an offender in the context of section 243 of the Criminal Code of Canada."

Giesbrecht'slawyer, Greg Brodsky, said he was surprised at the severity of the sentence and said his client didn't kill anyone.

"There were no marks, as you know, on the fetuses or products of conception to show that she self-induced an abortion and killed anybody.She can't be sentenced as if she did," he said.

He said he would adviseGiesbrechtto appeal the sentence.

Request to dismiss case

The sentencing happened after the judgerejected a motion to dismiss the case due to the length of time it took to conclude.

On Wednesday, Brodsky filed a delay motion to have the case thrown out because it hastaken 33 months to work its way through the courts, beyond the 18-month time frame set out by the Supreme Court of Canada last summer.

Counsel has a responsibility to file in timely way and there are no emergent reasons why a motion was filed at the last possible moment, Thompson said.

"If this motion were of such importance to the defence, it would not have been withheld," he said.

Allof these actions speak to the lack of seriousness with which the defence has presented this motion, Thompson said.

"Raising the spectre of a motion for unreasonable delay for the first timeon Fridayat 3:30 p.m. when a conviction was entered months ago, asentencing date has been set for months and distracting a judge writing an important and detailed decision is unacceptable," he said.

• Andrea Giesbrecht's lawyer wants conviction for disposing dead infant remains thrown out

Thompson asked Brodskywhy he waited five months after the conviction to bring the motion.Brodsky replied by saying he didn't know he was going to do it until the Supreme Court ruled on another case recently one that hebelieves has implications for Giesbrecht.

He didn't elaborate on the case or its relevance to Giesbrecht.

As for delays up to this point,Brodsky blamed the Crown for laying and staying several charges before the trial began, which caused setbacks forsetting court dates.

Brodskyhas previously said he also believes the courts did not set aside enough time to complete the trial.

"It was set down, then it was set down again, and it was set down again. They kept not adequately determining how much time is necessary,"hesaid.

Complex evidence presented

There's little question the case against Giesbrechtwascomplex, which the Crown has said contributed to the length of the case.Technical medical expert opinion evidence and DNA science featured prominently.

Giesbrecht was arrested the same month the infant remains were found. Due to the decomposition ofthe remains, no cause of death could be determined.

Medical experts testified the infants were Giesbrecht's, were at or near full term and were likely to have been born alive.

• Full coverage: Andrea Giesbrecht case