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A woman charged with concealing the remains of six infants in a Winnipeg storage locker made her first court appearance on Thursday.
A day after Andrea Giesbrecht, 40, was arrested outside her home in the north-end of Winnipeg, she appeared in court via video conference.
Giesbrecht’s lawyer Greg Brodsky said on Thursday that he was troubled that the Crown said an autopsy may have already been conducted on one of the deceased infants found in the rented storage locker.
Brodsky said he wants an independent pathologist to be present for the remaining infants’ autopsies, which he says should be videotaped as well.
“I’m not suggesting the pathologists at the medical examiner’s office are not competent and well qualified … but I am saying you can miss things in a difficult case like this,” Brodsky told Judge Fred Sandhu. “I don’t want my client to be forced to wait (in custody) … because something will be missed that will affect (her) ability to present a defence.”
Brodsky said it still hasn’t been determined whether the remains are of fetuses or full-term babies.
“Special care” will need to be taken “to determine who the parents were, what the DNA is, how old they are,” Brodsky said. “I don’t think it is fair in an adversarial process that the Crown gets to control the evidence and what happens to the evidence.”
Pathologists at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office are independent, but if the defence wants to retain its own pathologist to review the findings “they are certainly free to do that,” said Crown attorney Sharyl Thomas.
Sandhu said the Crown can either agree to Brodsky’s request or he can file a court motion arguing for its approval.
Giesbrecht was arrested earlier this week after the dead babies were discovered in U-Haul storage locker on McPhillips Street.
Giesbrecht is currently facing charges in relation to the illegal disposal of remains. Police say they are continuing to investigate and have not ruled out homicide charges.
Agencies/Canadajournal
