A Cobb County jury found Wallace James Williams guilty of aggravated assault with intent to rape, OCGA § 16-5-21 a 1, aggravated battery, OCGA § 16-5-24 a, child molestation, OCGA § 16-6-4 a, and cruelty to children, OCGA § 16-5-70 b. Wallace appeals from the order denying his motion for new trial, challenging his aggravated battery conviction, the court’s admission of certain evidence, the jury charge, the court’s merging of offenses, and his trial counsel’s effectiveness. Because the evidence was insufficient to support Williams’ aggravated battery conviction, we must reverse that conviction.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, the evidence shows that Williams attacked 13 year-old C. T. when she was alone at her uncle’s house. Williams knocked at the door and asked to speak with C. T.’s uncle. When C. T. said her uncle was not home, Williams asked to use the telephone. Although C. T. did not know Williams, she let him into the house and handed him the telephone. Williams made two calls, then handed the phone back to C. T. He then asked C. T. if she was scared of him. C. T. asked Williams to leave; instead, he approached her, grabbed her arm and touched her thigh. Williams chased C. T., grabbed her by the shoulders, and wrestled her into her uncle’s bedroom. Once there, Williams pushed C. T. to the floor and tried to pull her shorts down. C. T. testified that she thought Williams was also trying to remove his pants. Williams called C. T. a “whore,” yelled at her to shut up, felt C. T.’s legs and inner thigh, and stuck his fingers in C. T.’s mouth. When C. T. bit Williams, Williams retaliated by stepping on her face with his foot so hard that it left an imprint of his shoe’s tread on her skin. During this struggle, C. T. grabbed the phone and acted as if she were going to call the police. Williams fled.
