Court Opinion

ID: 9846240
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:37:35.670502+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:36.029441
License: Public Domain

BARNES, Judge,
concurring fully and specially.
Although I concur fully in the majority opinion, I write separately to express my view on why Gillespie’s conduct, while unlawful, did not fall within the conduct punished by OCGA § 16-5-23 (f). This Code section provides that
[i]f the offense of simple battery is committed between past or present spouses, persons who are parents of the same child, parents and children, stepparents and stepchildren, foster parents and foster children, or other persons excluding siblings living or formerly living in the same household, the defendant shall.be punished for a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature. In no event shall this subsection be applicable to corporal punishment administered by a parent or guardian to a child or administered by a person acting in loco parentis.
(Emphasis supplied.) Under the rule of construction of noscitur a sociis the meaning of a word is or may be known from accompanying words. Mott v. Central R., 70 Ga. 680, 683 (1883). In my view, the essential thing here is the relationship, not mere parentage.12 The categories of people set forth in the Code section consist of those who have a connection to each other, i.e., something that binds them temporarily or permanently. Thus, the fact that the victim was temporarily pregnant without Gillespie’s knowledge does not create the nature of relationship intended in the Code section.

 The dictionaries are not much assistance. The American Heritage Dictionary says a “parent” is “[a] mother or father” and Black’s Law Dictionary says a “parent” is “[t]he lawful father or mother of a person.” Black’s defines “mother” as “[a] woman who has borne a child. A female parent. The term includes maternity during prebirth period.” According to Black’s a “father” is “[a] male parent. He by whom a child is begotten. Natural father; procreator of a child.” American Heritage says a “father” is “[t]he begetter of a child; male parent” and defines a “mother” as a “female parent.” Also, OCGA § 19-8-1 (8) defines “parent” as “either the legal father or the legal mother of the child.”