Following a jury trial, Terrell Goss was convicted on two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of aggravated battery. The trial court merged the two counts of aggravated assault and sentenced him on the remaining three counts. Goss appeals, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction on one count of aggravated battery. He also contends that the trial court erroneously charged the jury on the law of aggravated battery and erred in failing to merge the remaining convictions. We find no merit to Goss’s claims and affirm.On appeal from a criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, with the defendant no longer enjoying a presumption of innocence. We neither weigh the evidence nor judge the credibility of witnesses, but determine only whether the evidence was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find the defendant guilty of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt.Citations omitted. Cross v. State , 285 Ga. App. 518, 519 646 SE2d 723 2007. So viewed, the evidence presented at trial showed that after a day of drinking, Goss attacked the victim, his girlfriend, with a knife after she refused to engage in sexual intercourse with him. In the initial attack, Goss stabbed the victim repeatedly until she feigned dead, at which time he covered her with a sheet. When the victim’s daughter subsequently knocked on the locked bedroom door, the victim called out for help. Goss then told the victim, “They are not going to help you tonight, because you are going to die,” threw the sheet off of her body, yanked her head back, and began cutting her neck. After the victim’s nephew kicked open the bedroom door and saw Goss sitting atop the wounded victim, Goss fled. The police were called and the victim was taken to the hospital where she remained for 15 days.
Goss had stabbed the victim 76 times, causing extensive damage to her throat, arms, and hands. While at the hospital, all 76 of the victim’s stab wounds had to be stitched. The victim underwent four surgeries to repair the damage done to her hands and plastic surgery to repair the damage to her neck. She was unable to use her wrist, hands and fingers for at least a month following the attack, and at the time of trial still had only limited use of her hands and fingers. Photographs depicting the victim’s injuries were admitted into evidence at trial.
