Husband unaware of pregnancies, final testimony in dead-babies case shows

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This article was published 31/08/2016 (3354 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The husband of the woman accused of hiding the remains of six full-term babies in a storage unit testified Wednesday he was unaware of the pregnancies — he didn’t even know that she was pregnant with one of their two children until he was born in the hospital.

“When he was born, that’s when I found out,” Jeremy Giesbrecht said at the trial of his wife, Andrea Giesbrecht, 42. She is charged with six counts of concealing a child’s body. The infants’ remains were found inside a McPhillips Street storage unit in October 2014.

The trial was delayed in July after he told court he didn’t know his wife had rented a storage locker at the U-Haul location, and he wasn’t aware she had carried six fetuses to term.

Jeremy Giesbrecht’s testimony in July was halted during cross-examination by defence lawyer Greg Brodsky because of confusion surrounding whether, if he agreed to answer some questions about conversations he had with his wife, he could legally be forced to answer all questions about communication during their marriage.

The trial resumed Monday, but could not pick up where it left off because Jeremy Giesbrecht had not retained a lawyer to advise him on the question of spousal privilege.

Late Monday, Legal Aid Manitoba appointed lawyer Amanda Sansregret.

After consultations with Sansregret, he agreed to testify but wouldn’t answer “all and any questions” about their marriage, she told the court.

Jeremy Giesbrecht returned to the witness box Wednesday without looking at his wife, who was seated behind Brodsky.

He told court the couple had been married approximately 20 years and decided not to have more children after their second child was born.

Wearing a grey dress shirt and showing no emotion, he said he was aware his wife had had about a dozen abortions and several miscarriages, and he had gone to some medical appointments with her.

The family often swam at the YMCA, and he never noticed his wife was pregnant when she wore a bathing suit, he said.

He also said she hadn’t hidden any pregnancies under baggy clothes. He reiterated under cross-examination he found out about their oldest son “when he was born.”

Brodsky asked if there was any indication Andrea was pregnant before the birth.

“A few weeks (before), I had a feeling there was going to be a possible pregnancy,” he said.

The couple decided he should have a vasectomy, and the procedure was done in 2011.

He previously testified he didn’t attend a follow-up appointment to ensure the vasectomy was successful.

“Was there any problem or unhappiness with the decision not to have any further children?” Brodsky asked.

“No,” Jeremy Giesbrecht replied.

He again told court he didn’t know about his wife’s storage unit at the U-Haul facility.

“I may have seen a bill for U-Haul, but I’m not exactly sure,” he said.

He testified he didn’t know what was in the storage unit, but assumed it contained belongings of Andrea’s late father, whom he described as a hoarder.

Court heard Andrea Giesbrecht rented a locker from one Winnipeg company and later moved the contents to a U-Haul facility.

Employees opened the locker in October 2014 when the bill was unpaid.

They found decomposed remains of six infants that medical witnesses have said appeared to be near full term.

Jeremy Giesbrecht said he was aware of the first locker but unsure about the second.

Court has heard most of the remains were in white garbage bags inside other bags and containers. One was in a pail under concrete-like material.

Another had been covered in a white powder that halted 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 probably born alive, but added it was impossible to tell for sure. Nor could they tell how the babies had died because of the advanced state of decomposition.

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Previous testimony based on DNA evidence — extracted from a sanitary pad seized from the couple’s home and a voluntary blood sample submitted by Jeremy Giesbrecht — indicated it’s highly likely the couple are the parents of the six infants.

Andrea Giesbrecht didn’t testify. Brodsky didn’t call any witnesses and suggested the Crown hadn’t proved its case.

The Crown has yet to suggest a motive.

The judge will hear closing arguments Friday.

A conviction of the offence of concealing a child’s body has a maximum sentence of two years on each count.