Can a defendant be convicted of assault under section 12022.7(a) of the California Penal Code for blocking the escape of a victim while his accomplice repeatedly strikes the victim?

Appellant bases this claim on People v. Cole (1982) 31 Cal.3d 568 (Cole). In that case, the defendant (during a burglary and robbery) ordered his accomplice to kill the victim and blocked the victim's escape while his accomplice repeatedly struck the victim. The sentencing court imposed an enhancement under a prior version of section 12022.7, to which we refer as former section 12022.7, which is identical in all relevant respects to section 12022.7(a). However, the defendant never himself struck the victim. (Cole, at p. 571.) The defendant challenged the former section 12022.7 enhancement, and Cole held the "personally inflicts" statutory language clearly and unambiguously required that the individual accused of inflicting great bodily injury must be "the person who directly acted to cause the injury. The choice of the word 'personally' necessarily excludes those who may have aided or abetted the actor directly inflicting the injury." (Cole, at p. 572.)