‘Shredded in every direction’: Woman testifies about dog attack before boy killed

EDMONTON – Tina Kelepouris remembers sliding on her own blood as she frantically escaped two large dogs that “shredded” her in a friend’s backyard. 

The 46-year-old woman testified Wednesday at the trial of Crystal MacDonald, the owner of the dogs that killed 11-year-old Kache Grist at her Edmonton home in April 2024.

MacDonald has pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing death.

Kelepouris testified about being attacked by the Cane Corsos, named Chaos and Cairo, about two months before the boy was killed.

“If they had gone deeper in my thigh, I could have bled to death right there,” she said. “Thank God I was not by myself.”

Kelepouris said she went to MacDonald’s house with two other friends in February 2024. They were celebrating that Kelepouris had a rare weekend off work as a registered massage therapist.

They arrived at the house before MacDonald got home, Kelepouris said but they knew the keycode and went inside to wait for her.

The dogs didn’t show any signs of aggression, and Kelepouris was surprised the dogs didn’t bark or growl as much as when she last saw them.

Kelepouris previously looked after the pets when MacDonald was out of town but hadn’t done so for more than a year, when she started working weekends.

She let the dogs out into the backyard to go pee and began playing with them. Within a few minutes, Cairo jumped up and knocked her on the icy ground before both dogs began mauling her.

“I was just getting shredded in every direction possible,” Kelepouris said. “I was pretty much screaming bloody murder.”

Her two friends were able to get the dogs off her, and she ran inside and locked herself in a bathroom. 

“I was in complete shock. I was sliding on my own blood and I was bleeding everywhere,” she said.

MacDonald arrived as the three friends were leaving the house.

Kelepouris said MacDonald asked if she was OK. She replied, “I don’t know,” before giving MacDonald a hug and telling her treats she brought for the dogs were in the kitchen.

“(MacDonald) looked at me, shrugged and said, ‘That’s why I don’t play with the dogs anymore,'” Kelepouris said. 

Kelepouris said she initially planned to pick up first aid supplies from a drugstore, but her friends realized she needed to go the hospital for stitches. Most concerning was that she also had a hard time breathing and a clicking sound was coming from her chest.

She said scans showed she had a punctured lung and three broken ribs. She also received more than a dozen stitches all over her body from dog bites.

She spent four days in hospital.

Kelepouris said she soon found out that MacDonald had also been attacked. While recovering in hospital, Kelepouris exchanged messages with MacDonald and asked her why the friend didn’t warn her about the dogs.

MacDonald didn’t reply, said Kelepouris.

“If I had known that, I would have never set foot there,” she said. “I thought she was my friend and I thought she was a good person.”

Kelepouris spent six weeks in recovery before going back to work part time. She filed a lawsuit against MacDonald, but it’s on hold during the criminal trial. 

Kelepouris said she reported the attack to animal control.

“I was positive (the dogs) were going to kill someone,” she said.

Court has heard that MacDonald was roommates with Kache’s father. The boy was from British Columbia but visiting his father in Edmonton.

An autopsy found he died from a bite injury to the neck. The dogs were later euthanized. 

Court also heard testimony Wednesday from animal control officer Christopher Linney, who went to MacDonald’s home a few weeks after Kelepouris was attacked.

He said he decided there were no grounds to seize the dogs or issue a ticket to MacDonald, because Kelepouris had “care and control” of the animals when the attack happened. 

Linney said MacDonald also had “beware of dog” signs at her home.

More witnesses are expected to testify Thursday, including Kache’s father. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2026.