Andrea Giesbrecht trial: Officer testifies about finding toys with body parts

The trial of a Winnipeg woman accused of keeping the remains of six infants in a U-Haul storage locker continued Tuesday with a police officer testifying about finding body parts.

Court heard on Monday — the first day of the trial of 42-year-old Andrea Giesbrecht — that the remains were discovered around midday on Oct. 20, 2014, inside a locker rented by Giesbrecht under her maiden name. They were in various states of decomposition, wrapped in kitchen-style garbage bags, placed in duffel bags and stored in large household containers.

In court Tuesday afternoon, defence lawyer Greg Brodsky, while cross-examining a police officer, said the infants were "products of conception" and were delivered without "medical assistance." Brodsky did not go as far as to say the infants were Giesbrecht's.

He also asked the officer if she knew Giesbrecht had therapeutic abortions and whether the officer knew Giesbrecht's husband had a vasectomy.

Earlier on Tuesday, Const. Danielle Aessie, who was in charge of collecting exhibits from the scene, testified on Tuesday that she cut a small slit into one plastic bag to take a look and "as I opened the bag a small hand could be seen."

Aessie, who has worked in the police service's identification unit for 10 years, added she "felt what could possibly be a head."

Police were called to the storage lockers by U-Haul employees who were conducting an inventory on the contents because rental payments had not been made. They testified on Monday about a strong "rotting smell" coming from inside.​

• Andrea Giesbrecht trial: 'Something wasn't right,' says U-Haul worker who found infant remains

Giesbrecht faces six counts of concealing bodies, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of two years.

The judge-only trial is being heard by provincial court Judge Murray Thompson at the Winnipeg courthouse. Brodsky has said the trial is likely to be lengthy and will hinge on whether the infants were born alive.

Aessie testified on Tuesday that she went went on to examine the rest of the bins and containers, noting "every bag has several layers to it."

She left the storage unit to get a warrant to seize the items then returned to fingerprint the locks and all of the containers. No usable prints were found, she testified.

The contents of the locker were later transported to the morgue where the remains were removed for autopsies, she said.

In all, there were the remains of six infants, Aessie said. A large Tupperware tub contained two bags each with a body inside, while a smaller tote contained one body and each of three pails contained a body, court heard.

One of the bags contained several other items including three toy cars, size 4 children's Scooby Doo underwear, an infant's socks, a plastic beaded necklace, and McDonald's happy meal instructions for a toy, Aessie said.

The trial was also told that one of the babies measured 49 centimetres tall (about 1½ feet) and weighed (6.3 pounds). Court also heard that experts were able to identify the sex of two of the infants — one was a boy and one was a girl —  but the sex of the other four was not able to be determined.

Check out our live blog below for updates from the CBC's Caroline Barghout, who is covering the trial. Warning: Some details may be graphic.

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