The defendant punched a woman holding a child, causing her to drop the child and thereby cause it damage. He was convicted of battery to the child and appealed, but his appeal was dismissed. The CA said that transferred malice did not apply.
The defendant said that in battery it was necessary to have directed the assault against the child directly since the wording of the offence was “… an act by which a person intentionally or recklessly applies unlawful force to the complainant.”
The appeal was dismissed since battery can be applied through a medium of a weapon and given that the mother’s dropping the baby was akin to that. (If direct force is required against the baby then he should be acquitted: the mother’s dropping him is hardly a weapon)
