Fraud trial for woman charged in baby case

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This article was published 07/07/2015 (4032 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Andrea Giesbrecht, who is facing six charges of concealing the remains of infants found in a storage locker last October, will go to trial on unrelated fraud charges.

Giesbrecht, 41, has been charged with three counts of fraud over $5,000.

Matt Gould, the lawyer who represented Giesbrecht in court Monday, said “discussions have fallen through,” so no plea agreement could be reached and dates for the fraud trial would need to be set.

Giesbrecht was reportedly in the building but not in the courtroom during the brief appearance by her lawyer.

Following the proceeding, Gould said the tipping point in the negotiations was the Crown’s proposal of more jail time for his client.

“We feel, as her defence, that it’s inappropriate to add jail time to this type of charge,” Gould said.

“She was willing to acknowledge that paying (the money) back was appropriate. By insisting on jail time from the Crown, it left the defence in a position where we felt we had no option except to set these matters for trial.”

The fraud charges against Giesbrecht involve Manitoba’s Employment and Income Assistance, a payday loan business and a private individual.

He said three separate trial dates will need to be set, and it could take a year before those trials occur.

Gould said the defence proposed a resolution to the Crown that centred on paying back the plaintiffs “with the least amount of stress in the least amount of time” and probation for his client.

In the case involving the six charges of concealing a body relating to the remains of the infants found in the storage locker, Giesbrecht is expected to go to trial in April 2016.

She has been free since April 24 on $15,000 bail but is subject to a 24-hour curfew and is under the supervision of the Elizabeth Fry Society.

She cannot drink or gamble.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca