Monday was the first day of trial in St. Catharines of a convicted child abuser, who is now accused of killing his grandson.

One year old Kody Smart died at McMaster Children’s hospital in July, 2015 after an incident at his grandfather’s home. In a 911 call played in court, Brian Matthews told the dispatcher a family dog jumped off the couch and knocked the boy over. After the fall, Matthews told paramedics Kody continued to play, but minutes later he became unresponsive.

Two paramedics who responded to the call that day were questioned in court. Both say when they got to the home, the boy was lying on the kitchen table, his body limp and unresponsive. Both also said that they don’t remember seeing any bruising on the boy.

One paramedic said she asked Matthews what had happened three times, because quote: “the injury didn’t really match the story.”

She said another paramedic onsite noticed one of the boy’s pupils was blown, a sign of trauma that she said did not match the ground level injury Matthews was describing. Kody died after two days in hospital.

Kody’s father says he pleaded for Children’s Aid not to send his only son to his own abusive father.

“I was immediately concerned, due to Brian’s prior history of abuse on me.” Brett Matthews, Kody’s father.

20 years earlier Matthews was convicted of abusing his son Brett, who was 6 months old at the time. Kody’s step grandfather says Children’s Aid made a mistake that can never be forgiven.

“The fact of the matter is, warning signs were there, they ignored the warning signs and they should be held accountable”

Matthew’s other son, Taylor also took the stand today and said they family never considered putting down any of their three dogs after the incident.