A Winnipeg woman convicted of concealing the remains of six infants in a U-Haul storage locker is appealing her conviction and sentence.
Andrea Giesbrecht was found guilty in February 2017 on six counts of concealing the body of a child and in July 2017 she was sentenced to 8 ½ years in custody.
A panel of three Manitoba Court of Appeal judges is hearing the case.
Giesbrecht showed little emotion as she sat in shackles wearing a grey sweatshirt and sweatpants in the courtroom seated in between two sheriff’s officers.
The case dates back to October 2014 when employees discovered the remains in the rented storage locker.
The remains were too decomposed to determine how the infants died.
Giesbrecht’s lawyer, Greg Brodsky, argued Wednesday morning Giesbrecht wasn’t disposing of the remains. He told court she was preserving them in the storage locker to visit from time-to-time.
“She never let anyone else take control of the contents,” Brodsky told court. “There’s no broken bones, there’s no stab wounds.
“I say she didn’t dispose of them. They were saved.”
Court of Appeal Justice Christopher Mainella told court no evidentiary basis was provided for that argument.
“She wasn’t keeping her vinyl record collection,” Mainella told court. “These lockers were used for storing dead bodies.
“It’s a deceit that is occurring here. You have a legal obligation to register your birth.”
Giesbrecht didn’t testify during her trial and no motive was ever given for her actions.
Brodsky also told the Court of Appeal, Giesbrecht’s sentence was excessive and the trial judge erred in the verdict in ruling the babies were likely born alive.
He said either the conviction should be quashed, a new trial should be ordered or the sentence should be reduced.
Crown attorney Jennifer Mann argued the appeal should be dismissed because the trial judge got it right.
Mann told the judges the evidence presented at trial shows the infants were placed in bags within buckets or pails in order to contain the smell.
“Surely, that can be considered a discarding when you place these infants in that manner,” Mann told court. “Storing these bodies in this manner was done with an intent to contain the smell.
“Her crimes, to this day, are inexplicable.”
Giesbrecht was given consecutive sentences of six months for the first infant, one year for the second and two years each for concealing the remaining four bodies.
Mainella questioned why there were different sentences for each count.
Mann argued it’s because Giesbrecht’s moral culpability increased with each offence.
“It means none of these infants were discovered until long after they died,” Mann told court. “She managed to prevent the authorities from being able to investigate this in any real way.”
Two years is the maximum penalty under the Criminal Code for the offence.
The judges have reserved their decision for a later date.
