Andrea Giesbrecht showed no remorse, should get 11 years for hiding infant remains: Crown
Defence lawyer mulls filing delay motion to toss case
Andrea Giesbrecht should learn next week whether she'll get 11 years or time served for concealing the remains of six infants in a Winnipeg U-Haul storage locker.
But as her lawyer left court Friday, he said he planned to take the weekend to decide whether he would file a delay motion asking the court to toss Giesbrecht's case because it had taken too long to complete.
Giesbrecht, 43, appeared in a Winnipeg courtroom Friday for sentencing submissions, wearing black pants and a sweater as she smiled and chatted with three supporters.
In February, a judge found the Winnipeg woman guilty of six counts of disposing of the body of a dead child with intent to conceal the delivery.
Crown attorney Debbie Buors asked the court for an 11-year sentence for Giesbrecht, saying there is no minimum sentence for a conviction of concealing remains, but the maximum sentence for each charge is two years.
Buors said Giesbrecht has not shown any remorse and appears unapologetic.
Provincial court Judge Murray Thompson reserved his decision. He's expected to deliver it on July 14.
Defence wants release with time served
Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky told Giesbrecht's sentencing hearing his client has already spent the equivalent of 252 days in custody following her arrest in 2014. He wants to see her released with time served.
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He said that Giesbrecht is not required to explain what happened and the court should remember she is being sentenced only for concealing the remains, not for anything to do with how the infants died.
He described his client as "caring, compassionate, charismatic and a patient individual," and said she enjoys being a mother.
Remains found in storage locker
The infants' remains were found Oct. 20, 2014, by employees at the Winnipeg U-Haul storage facility in a locker Giesbrecht rented under her maiden name, Andrea Naworynski.
Employees called police after finding an infant's limb when they went in to clean out the locker because Giesbrecht defaulted on paying the rental bill.
The bodies were found in plastic grocery bags, in some cases wrapped in towels and then sealed in household containers. One of the infants was found encased in concrete, and another in a substance similar to laundry detergent.
There was also a bag filled with other items, including toy cars, children's Scooby Doo underwear, infant-sized socks and McDonald's Happy Meal instructions for a toy.
Giesbrecht was arrested the same day.
She pleaded not guilty to all six charges.
Initially the Crown looked into laying homicide charges but abandoned the idea because autopsies gleaned no cause of death because of decomposition. Without that information, the Crown had no choice but to pursue a lesser charge.
DNA linked to Giesbrecht, husband
The lengthy trial began April 18, 2016 and heard from Giesbrecht's husband, son and friends, as well as U-Haul employees, police and forensic experts.
Due to the lesser charge, Giesbrecht couldn't be compelled to provide a blood sample. But police located her DNA on a sanitary napkin found in her closet.
Forensic biologist Christine Crossman testified that the DNA found on the sanitary napkin matched the babies found in the storage locker. DNA tests also linked the babies with Giesbrecht's husband, Jeremy Giesbrecht.
The trial also heard Giesbrecht had 10 therapeutic abortions between 1994 and 2011. An obstetrics and gynecology expert testified Giesbrecht was pregnant at least 18 times between the ages of 20 and 38.
All six infants were between 34 and 42 weeks of gestation and medical expert Dr. Sharon Naugler told the court the likelihood of Giesbrecht delivering six stillborn babies was one in 500 trillion.
In response to crowns position that Giesbrecht had no remorse Brodsky said "this is not an abortion debate. The victim is not the babies".
—@cbarghoutDuring his testimony, Jeremy Giesbrecht said he knew about nine abortions, but was unaware there were other pregnancies. He told court he had a vasectomy in 2011, but did not go for a follow-up appointment to see if it was successful.
''She wished to conceal the fact of their birth'
In his guilty ruling in February, Thompson said all of the children were likely born alive and "there is no evidence of complications in these pregnancies."
"All of her actions lead to one conclusion, that Giesbrecht was aware these children were likely to have been born alive and she wished to conceal the fact of their birth."
With files from Caroline Barghout and The Canadian Press