The owner of two dogs that killed an 11-year-old boy says she was working to get her Cane Corsos trained before the fatal attack.
Crystal MacDonald is on trial facing a charge of criminal negligence causing death after Kache Grist was fatally mauled by her Cane Corsos at her home in the Summerside neighbourhood in April 2024.
Court has heard the unneutered dogs, who weighed 50 kg (110 pounds) and 57 kg (125 pounds), severely a woman at MacDonald’s home less than two months before Kache’s death.
Image from video from the day of the attack on Tina Kelepouris.
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Tina Kelepouris went to MacDonald’s house with two other friends in February 2024.
She had been interacting and playing with the dogs for several unremarkable minutes in the backyard, when the dogs unexpectedly attacked her.
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Kelepouris spent four days in hospital with three broken ribs, a punctured lung and more than a dozen stitches all over her body.
MacDonald said she had not arrived at her house yet when the attack happened, adding that the three friends let themselves inside.
She said she told one of the friends repeatedly that she did not want anyone playing with her dogs, as they had already killed a Pomeranian, a cat, and injured another person at the house.
MacDonald said after the attack on Kelepouris, she contacted several places to have her dogs trained and had an appointment lined up to neuter the more aggressive dog.
Edmonton police stopping Crystal MacDonald from entering her home in south Edmonton’s Summerside neighbourhood, shortly after Kache Grist was killed by her two dogs in April 2024.
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The Crown, which wrapped up its case Thursday, opened the trial saying it would attempt to prove McDonald should have known her dogs were dangerous, given the reports of their aggressive history prior to the fatal attack on Kache.
The trial was previously told the unneutered dogs, which weighed more than 100 pounds each, had a history of attacking people and killing animals.
— More to come…
With files from Karen Bartko, Global News
© 2026 The Canadian Press
