Babies found in storage locker may have been alive at birth: doctor

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This article was published 21/04/2016 (3487 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

All six babies found decaying in a storage locker rented by Andrea Giesbrecht could have been alive when born, a Winnipeg court heard today.

Dr. Michael Narvey, a neonatologist at the Children’s Hospital and the University of Manitoba, testified that he came to this conclusion after examining autopsy reports and photos of the bodies.

“I believe that at least some, if not all, of these children could have been alive (when born),” Narvey told provincial court Judge Murray Thompson on Thursday.

But Narvey said the bodies were so decayed he could not determine the cause of death.

Narvey testified that from what he could see the babies were “structurally normal” and they were all born between 34 to 42 weeks into pregnancy. He did not find any genetic abnormalities.

He said the likelihood of a mother bearing six stillborn children was “extremely improbable.”

An obstetrician who has delivered thousands of babies says the odds would be “astronomically small” for a mother to have six stillborn babies.

Dr. Sharon Naugler, the head of obstetrics at the Health Sciences Centre, testified on Thursday that the odds of Andrea Giesbrecht having six stillborn babies was “1.5 in 100 trillion”.

But Naugler added that because all six babies – five boys and one girl – were almost full term babies, “the actual chance is one in 500 trillion.

“Any way you look at it, it is astronomically small. I would say medically impossible. Just impossible.”

Naugler also said laboratory records of Giesbrecht from a 2002 pregnancy showed no signs that she would have any problems with a future pregnancy.

Naugler also said it is impossible for anyone to kill an unborn, full term fetus without doing major harm to the mother.

Giesbrecht, 42, is charged with six counts of concealing a child’s body. The remains of the infants were found inside a U-Haul facility on McPhillips Street in Oct. 2014.

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Court heard Wednesday that the official causes of death have been listed as “undetermined.” DNA profiling matched the human remains of all six bodies to a sample taken from a used sanitary napkin seized from Giesbrecht’s home and a voluntary blood sample provided by Giesbrecht’s husband, suggesting they are the parents of the babies.

Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky has previously said he believes the remains are likely more than a decade old. He is challenging whether the state of the infants meets the legal requirement to prove the charges against his client. Police did originally caution Giesbrecht that they may charge her with murder or some related offence, but that never came to fruition.

Brodsky revealed in court Wednesday that his client’s medical records show she had 10 legal abortions between 1994 and 2011. She gave birth to her two sons in 1997 and 2002.

The relevance of mentioning those abortions isn’t clear at this time, but may emerge later once lawyers get into final arguments. There is no suggestion the remains in the storage locker are connected to those procedures.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.