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The woman who owned two dogs responsible for the mauling death of an 11-year-old Osoyoos, B.C., boy appeared in an Edmonton courtroom on Monday for the start of her trial on a charge of criminal negligence causing death.
The boy, Kache Grist, was visiting his father, who lived in the Edmonton community of Summerside, during spring break in April 2024, when he was bitten in the neck by at least one larg-breed dog.
The unneutered dogs that weighed 50 kg (110 pounds) and 57 kg (125 pounds) were owned by his father’s landlord, Crystal Jean McDonald.
During Monday’s opening day of testimony, court heard how the dogs, named Chaos and Cairo, had a documented history of aggression in the nine months leading up to Kache’s death.
Court was told they killed a small dog, bit the owner’s downstairs tenant in the leg so bad he required stitches, killed the same tenant’s cat in a separate incident and even injured McDonald herself so badly she was forced to seek medical treatment.
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The injured tenant, who was the Crown’s first witness, described the dogs as rambunctious and said they would often jump on people as they had been taught to give hugs and they didn’t listen well to their owner.
The Crown is attempting to prove that McDonald should have known her dogs were dangerous, given the reports of their aggressive history prior to the fatal attack on Kache.
The agreed statement of facts, tabled in court Monday, included testimony from the examiner’s report that stated the cause of death was a dog bite to the neck.
Both dogs were euthanized following the attack, with the forensic veterinarian determining they were healthy animals.
The trial is scheduled to run through Tuesday of next week, with a dozen witnesses expected to take the stand for the Crown.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
