WINNIPEG –The trial is now underway in the case of a Winnipeg woman accused of concealing the remains of six infants in a storage locker.
Andrea Giesbrecht, now 42 years old, appeared in court Monday morning.
Giesbrecht was arrested in October 2014 after staff at a U-Haul storage locker made the gruesome discovery.
She was behind in her payments and employees were doing an inventory of lockers.
First witness speaks
Ryan Pearson, a 19-year employee with the company, was the person who opened the locker and found the remains.
Pearson said there were a number of pails and Rubbermaid containers.
“We opened up a pail that was full of some soap. It was full… Seems something was in there,” said Pearson. “Kinda thought something was not right.”
Pearson said there was an “indescribable” but “weird” smell that came from one of the pails when it was opened.
“We got some gloves because it didn’t seem right,” he said. “Everything was sticky feeling.”
Pearson said police were called and on scene within 15 to 20 minutes.
Second witness at trial
The second witness took to the stand and described what she found. Kristina Lekei was an employee for U-Haul for four years at the time of the incident.
She said “animal and human carcasses,” are among items not allowed to be stored at the location.
According to Lekei, documents of non-payment shows the last day Giesbrecht could have accessed her locker was May 7, 2014.
Giesbrecht was also contacted numerous times by employees for payment but did not pay the storage fee, Lekei told the jury.
Lekei described opening the storage bin with the dead infants inside.
“By the time we opened the second blue container, that’s the one that smelled the worst,” she said.
“Just gross, like something was rotting. There was something in the bag… it was not just rotting food.”
Lekei said Giesbrecht did not want items disposed of or auctioned as they were “her deceased father’s items.”
The first officer who arrived on scene is expected to testify Monday afternoon.
Greg Brodksy, the lawyer of the accused, started the morning by saying facts will not be the issue in this case but instead the interpretation of those facts.
READ MORE: Bail granted to Andrea Giesbrecht, accused in dead babies case
Giesbrecht has been out on bail for the past year.