Final arguments delayed in trial for woman charged with hiding infant remains

WINNIPEG — Closing arguments in the trial of a Winnipeg woman charged with hiding the remains of six infants in a storage locker have been delayed.

The judge hearing the case of Andrea Giesbrecht agreed to adjourn proceedings until October after Crown attorney Debbie Buors sent an email saying she was sick.

The judge gave the Crown until Sept. 23 to file a written argument to the court giving an “element-by-element” breakdown of evidence it’s relying on for each charge.

That will be shared with Giesbrecht’s defence team, which will have a chance to respond in writing as well.

Giesbrecht was arrested in October 2014 after the remains were found by storage locker employees, but the 42-year-old has been free on bail.

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Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky said outside the courtroom he was disappointed by the delay.

“We wanted to get the case on and over with,” he said Friday.

Court has heard most of the remains found in the storage locker were in white garbage bags that were inside other bags and containers. One was in a pail under a type of concrete. Another had been covered in a white powder that slowed decomposition but dried out the body and left it rock hard.

The third infant was little more than a pile of bones wrapped in a towel.

Experts who examined the remains and reviewed the findings testified the infants were developed enough to probably have been born alive, but added it was impossible to say for sure. Nor could they tell how the babies had died because of the advanced state of decomposition.

The defence opted not to call any witnesses.

The charges facing Giesbrecht carry a maximum sentence of two years on each count.

The Canadian Press