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A woman convicted of hiding the remains of six babies in a U-haul storage locker has had her prison term reduced to three years.

Andrea Giesbrecht was sentenced last year to 8 1/2 years on charges of concealing the remains of infants.

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In a lengthy written decision from the Manitoba Court of Appeals released Wednesday, Justice Christopher Mainella called the case deeply disturbing.

“We will never know why these six little lights went dark due to the accused’s appalling dishonesty,” Mainella wrote.

However, the judge said last year’s sentence was too harsh because it assumed certain culpable actions of which Giesbrecht was never tried or convicted, such as violence or neglect.

“Just as the mighty are not above the law, the unpopular are not outside of its protections, even on facts as troubling as here.”

Giesbrecht was convicted under a section of the Criminal Code that forbids the disposal of a child’s dead body with intent to conceal the birth –whether the child died before, during or after.