Andrea Giesbrecht trial: Officer testifies about finding toys with body parts

The trial of a Winnipeg woman accused of keeping the remains of six infants in a U-Haulstorage locker continued Tuesday with a police officer testifying about finding body parts.

Court heard on Monday the first day of the trialof 42-year-old AndreaGiesbrecht that the remains were discoveredaround middayonOct.20,2014,inside a locker rented byGiesbrecht under her maiden name.They were in various states of decomposition, wrapped in kitchen-style garbage bags, placed in duffel bags and stored in large household containers.

In court Tuesday afternoon, defence lawyer Greg Brodsky, while cross-examining a police officer, said the infants were "products of conception" and were delivered without "medical assistance." Brodsky did not go as far as to say the infants were Giesbrecht's.

He also asked the officer if she knew Giesbrecht had therapeutic abortions and whether the officer knew Giesbrecht's husband had a vasectomy.

Earlier on Tuesday,Const. Danielle Aessie, whowas in chargeof collecting exhibits from the scene, testified on Tuesday thatshe cut a small slit into one plasticbag to take a look and "as I opened the bag a small hand could be seen."

Aessie, whohasworkedin the police service's identification unit for 10 years,addedshe"felt whatcould possibly be a head."

Police were called to the storage lockers by U-Haul employees who wereconducting aninventory on the contentsbecause rental payments had not been made. They testified on Monday abouta strong "rotting smell" coming from inside.

• Andrea Giesbrecht trial: 'Something wasn't right,' says U-Haul worker who found infant remains

Giesbrechtfaces sixcounts of concealing bodies, with each charge carryinga maximum sentence of two years.

The judge-only trial is being heard by provincial court Judge Murray Thompson at theWinnipeg courthouse.Brodsky has saidthe trial is likely to be lengthy and will hinge on whether the infants were born alive.

Aessie testified on Tuesday that shewentwent on to examine the rest of the bins and containers, noting "every bag has several layers to it."

She left the storage unit to get awarrant to seize the items thenreturned tofingerprintthe locks and all of the containers. No usable prints were found, she testified.

The contents of the locker were later transportedto the morgue where the remains were removed for autopsies, she said.

In all, there were the remains of six infants,Aessiesaid. A large Tupperwaretub contained twobags each with a body inside, while a smaller tote contained onebody and each of threepails contained abody, court heard.

One of the bags contained several other items including three toy cars, size 4 children's Scooby Doo underwear, an infant's socks, a plastic beaded necklace, andMcDonald's happy meal instructions for a toy, Aessie said.

The trial was also told that one of the babies measured49 centimetrestall (about1 feet)andweighed (6.3 pounds). Court also heard that experts were able to identify the sex of two of the infants one was a boy and one was a girl but the sex of the other four was not able to be determined.

Check out our liveblogbelow for updates from theCBC'sCarolineBarghout, who is covering the trial. Warning: Some details may be graphic.

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