The Edmonton woman whose dogs fatally mauled an 11-year-old boy failed to take “concrete” steps to control the animals after a string of previous attacks, a Crown prosecutor argued on the final day of her trial.
The woman’s defence lawyer, meanwhile, said the Crown hadn’t proven its case, arguing the boy’s father also played a significant role in the tragedy.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Eric Macklin heard closing arguments Tuesday in the trial of Crystal MacDonald, who was charged with criminal negligence after her two Cane Corsos killed Kache Grist at her south Edmonton home in 2024.
Macklin is expected to give his decision in the case Friday.
‘Openly not being followed’
Kache, the son of MacDonald’s roommate Wesley Grist, lived in B.C. and visited his father during spring break 2024. MacDonald testified that at the time, she was struggling with what to do after her dogs were involved in a series of attacks. In the year leading up to Kache’s death, the Cane Corsos had killed a Pomeranian, bitten MacDonald and her roommate, attacked a former dog sitter and killed a roommate’s cat.
MacDonald said she told Wesley Grist that she didn’t want Kache visiting until the dogs had been trained. She had inquired with a trainer specializing in large dogs, but had been told the first availability was months away. She also planned to have the dogs neutered, but missed the appointment while grieving a deceased friend.
Prosecutor Anders Quist said that at the time of Kache’s death, MacDonald’s approach to controlling the dogs was a “marked and substantial departure” from what a reasonable person would have done in the same circumstances. Instead of having the animals euthanized or boarding them while a child stayed in her home, he said, MacDonald relied on in-home kennels and specific instructions to her roommates about when the dogs could be released.
“These instructions were openly not being followed, according to her evidence,” Quist said. “For the duration of Kache’s spring break, she ultimately settled on Kache’s safety being someone else’s problem.”
MacDonald testified she told Grist not to leave his son alone with the dogs, but Quist said that in prior attacks, even multiple adults were not enough to stop the dogs.
Quist told court that if MacDonald is acquitted, the Crown intends to seek a peace bond banning her from owning dogs.
‘She did what she could’
Defence lawyer Evan McIntyre said the Crown has failed to prove his client’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt
“She did what she could to keep Kache safe,” he said. “We can’t punish her just because the steps she took didn’t work or were ignored by other parties.”
McIntyre stressed that he wasn’t blaming Kache or his father for the boy’s death. But he noted Kache was alone in the house for 45 minutes after last seeing his father, who was working in the garage, and there is no evidence what might have set off the attack
“I’m in no way trying to blame a young boy for the consequences that befell him, but we simply don’t know,” he said.
Grist failed to follow MacDonald’s instructions about the dogs, McIntyre added.
“Her first position was, ‘Please don’t bring your son here until we can deal with the dogs,’” he said. “He put her in a very difficult position here. In the moment she felt she didn’t have a choice but to let Kache stay there, with strict parameters.”
“In the circumstances here, it was reasonable for her to believe the child’s father would follow her rules.”
McIntyre added that MacDonald was under no legal obligation to have the dogs put down. Animal control officers visited the house after the attack on the dog sitter but declined to seize the dogs because the victim was in “care and control” of the animals at the time.
“No steps were taken,” McIntyre said. “They could have applied to seize the dogs. They could have applied to have them deemed dangerous.”
Both dogs were seized by the City of Edmonton and euthanized after the 2024 attack.
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