Andrea Giesbrecht 'stressed out' over delays in infant remains trial, lawyer says

The lawyer representing Andrea Giesbrecht, who is accused of concealing infant remains in a Winnipeg storage locker, says his client is "stressed out" by numerous delays that have plagued the trial since it began in April.

The latest delay came on Friday, when closing arguments were supposed to be heard. Court was told that a member of the prosecution team has become ill, so the hearing has been postponed until Oct. 5.

• Infant remains too decomposed to reveal cause of death in storage locker case: forensics expert
• No evidence to support infants were born alive or dead, expert tells Giesbrecht trial

Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky said while he's concerned about the Crown prosecutor's health, he's also frustrated with the latest delay in proceedings.

"It's stressful for the defence and particularly stressful for the accused to be on the hook, waiting and waiting and waiting for the matter to be over," Brodsky told reporters.

"I know she's stressed out. My team, who's with me now, knows that she's stressed out."

Giesbrecht, a 42-year-old mother of two, was charged with six counts of concealing bodies after the decomposed remains were discovered inside a rented U-Haul storage locker on Oct. 20, 2014.

She has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being tried in front of a judge alone in provincial court. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of two years.

The trial began April 18 with four days of hearings, followed by several more days in July, then resumed on Monday.

Some of the delays were due to legal wrangling over how much, if anything, from Giesbrecht's conversations with her husband could be disclosed in testimony. In the end, Jeremy Giesbrecht was not asked about those conversations during his last day of cross-examination on Wednesday.

Born alive?

Brodsky has previously said the outcome of the trial would likely hinge on whether the infants were born alive.

• Trial over infant remains in storage locker could hinge on experts: lawyer

Earlier this week, pathologists who were involved in examining the remains testified that some of the six infants were full term, but the remains were too decomposed to determine whether any of them had been born alive or dead.

Giesbrecht did not testify during the trial, but court heard testimony from one of her sons and her husband, who both said they did not notice her being pregnant multiple times.

Jeremy Giesbrecht testified that he only learned she was pregnant with their first son on the day he was born.

He also testified that he knew about one of his wife's storage lockers and he "thought it was her father hoarding furniture stuff." He said he was unaware of the U-Haul storage locker where the remains were eventually located.

As well, Jeremy Giesbrecht testified he knew about a number of abortions and miscarriages his wife had.

• Andrea Giesbrecht trial: Husband says wife wore 'boring' clothing
• Husband of Andrea Giesbrecht didn't notice pregnancies
• Giesbrecht's son testifies he never saw his mother pregnant

Earlier in the trial, ​an obstetrics and gynecology expert testified that Giesbrecht was pregnant at least 18 times between the ages of 20 and 38.

Jeremy Giesbrecht is the biological father of the infants found in the locker, according to earlier testimony from a forensic biologist. But Giesbrecht testified in July that he couldn't be sure that he was the only man who might have conceived a child with his wife.

Lyn Burdett, who worked at a Winnipeg casino, testified during the trial that the accused had a long-term affair with a man who worked at the gambling centre, which Andrea Giesbrecht frequented.