The owner of two dogs that killed an 11-year-old says she tried to establish strict rules in her home to deal with the problematic animals, but the boy’s father didn’t listen.
Crystal MacDonald, 46, is on trial facing a charge of criminal negligence causing death after Kache Grist was killed by her two Cane Corsos at her Edmonton home in April 2024.
Court has heard that MacDonald and the boy’s father, Wesley Grist, were roommates at the time of the attack. Kache, who lived in British Columbia, was visiting his father for spring break.
MacDonald testified Friday that she didn’t approve of the boy staying at her home after the dogs, which weighed more than 100 pounds, severely injured a woman in the backyard.
“I said, ‘Absolutely not, I don’t think it’s a good idea,’” MacDonald said.
Tina Kelepouris had been mauled two months earlier. She spent four days in hospital with three broken ribs, a punctured lung and more than a dozen stitches all over her body.
The dogs, named Khaos and Kairo, also killed a Pomeranian in the summer of 2023.
MacDonald and Jesse Woodruff, a tenant living in the basement of her home, also sustained leg injuries from the dogs in December of that year. The dogs also killed Woodruff’s cat about two months later.
After the attack on Kelepouris, MacDonald said she knew the rules of the house needed to be “twice as strict.”
The dogs were to be left in their kennels when no one was home, she said. No one else was allowed in the house with the dogs except Grist and two other people MacDonald trusted with them.
MacDonald said she was working to get dog training specifically for big breeds, with the possibility of a spot opening up for them in the coming months. An appointment was also lined up for Khaos, the more aggressive dog, to get neutered.
However, MacDonald said, Grist showed up with his son at the house days after she said she wouldn’t allow it.
“Kache walked through the front door … walked up to me and said, ‘Aunty!’ and he gave me the biggest hug,” she said.
“I was happy to see Kache … (but) I was upset that Wes did not follow my boundary in not bringing him.”
She felt she had no other choice but to let the boy stay.
MacDonald said she told Grist repeatedly not to leave his son alone with the dogs. She also later warned the boy that the dogs had killed two other animals and attacked Kelepouris.
MacDonald tried to book the dogs into a kennel while Kache was in town, but the dogs didn’t have the required vaccination.
She said she had known Kache since he was a baby and the two were close. The day before his death, she filled plastic Easter eggs with chocolate and money, and hid them around the house for the boy.
On the day of the attack, MacDonald went to run errands with a friend and then had to go straight to work. Before leaving, she said, she put the dogs in the kennel and gave Kache a hug.
“I told him how proud I was of him,” she testified through tears. “He had grown so much.”
She found out he had been killed when a friend called her at work later in the day. MacDonald rushed home to find a chaotic scene outside her house with police cruisers and an ambulance.
“I was in shock, scared, sad,” she said.
Court has heard that an autopsy found the child died from a bite injury to the neck. The dogs were later euthanized.
The boy’s father testified Thursday that he was in the garage when Kache was killed. He had allowed his son to go inside to play with a new video game while Grist finished cleaning up tools.
Kairo, the calmer of the two dogs, was inside on the couch. Court heard Kache then let in Khoas from the backyard without permission.
Grist found his son lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor with the dogs surrounding him.
During cross-examination Friday, Crown prosecutor Anders Quist suggested that MacDonald downplayed the previous attacks and blamed others.
He suggested that she relied on other people, who did not follow her rules, to protect Kache.
“You relied on your words to protect Kache’s life, correct?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
Quist also asked if MacDonald knew the dogs could kill Kache.
“I didn’t think it would happen,” she said. “I knew they were capable of killing anyone.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2026.
Daniela Germano, The Canadian Press
