Brendan Depa sentencing: Joan Naydich, Matanzas High School teacher savagely beaten by a special needs student tells of her beating and ongoing injuries as the autistic teen awaits a court’s punishment.
A Florida teacher who was beaten unconscious by a ‘special needs’ student over a video game has revealed her attacker spat on her while calling her slurs during last year’s vicious attack. The comments come leading up to her teen attacker being sentenced at the end of the month, where he potentially faces up to 30 years jail.
Joan Naydich, 59, was pounced on in February by 17-year-old Brendan Depa, who towered over her at 6’6 and nearly 270 pounds.
Depa allegedly spat at her and called her a ‘bitch’ and a ‘w***e’ after she told another staff member his Nintendo Switch was distracting other students. The attack left Naydich with five broken ribs, a concussion and hearing loss along with ongoing psychological woes.
JUST IN: 6’6” 270 pound black male student attacks a white teacher at Matanzas High School for taking away his Nintendo Switch during class…
Video reveals the unconscious woman being brutally assaulted and struck in the head roughly 15 times. https://t.co/pZAJzhaykv
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) February 24, 2023
‘My whole life was just turned upside down.’
The teen pleaded no contest to an aggravated battery charge in early November. The teen who was charged as an adult is awaiting sentencing at the end of the month.
The mother-of-two said the assault rendered her a ‘totally different person,’ adding: ‘My whole life was just turned upside down.’
Surveillance video from inside Matanzas High School shows the teen charging at the unsuspecting teacher, knocking her to the ground before proceeding to savagely punch and kicks the knocked out teacher. The ‘special needs’ student is alleged to have stuck Naydich at least a dozen times in the head and back as she lays motionless.
Naydich, originally from Rhode Island, moved to Florida’s Palm Coast and worked in the Flagler County School District beginning in 2003.
She was assigned to the Matanzas High School cafeteria for nearly two decades before pursuing the certifications she needed to become a classroom aide.
Her first encounter with Depa came in January 2022. The autistic teen was in a special needs classroom where Naydich worked alongside the primary teacher.
She learned that Depa was adopted as a young child before being sent to live in a group home and became acutely aware that he was troubled.
‘He would try to intimidate,’ she told the nypost. ‘But during that school year it never got to the point where he became violent. It was just verbal.’
She learned that Depa was particularly fond of video games and sensitive to criticism about his classroom performance, and would often accuse her of ‘spying’ on his school file.
School protocol
On the day of attack, the teen was irritated that he had to wait for other students to arrive before heading to the cafeteria for breakfast. He told Naydich that he hadn’t been given dinner the night before.
After eating, Depa headed to his regular special needs class, where his main teacher generally allowed him to use his Nintendo Switch if he completed his work.
Naydich walked him to his next class, where there was a substitute. Depa pulled out his gaming console, distracting some of the other students and prompting her to demand he put it away.
The teen initially did as he was told, only to pull it out again towards the end of the period.
Naydich then texted his primary teacher, telling her that it would be wise for Depa to not bring the console into the same class moving forward.
‘Jail would be a death sentence’
Upon returning to his regular classroom, Depa realized Naydich had informed the teacher what had happened in the previous class when she broached the issue and grew enraged.
‘That’s when he started calling me names,’ Naydich said. ‘B**ch. W**re. This and that.’
She grabbed her backpack and sweatshirt in preparation to leave the room, as ‘the energy changed in there.’
Depa spat in her face as she headed to the door. As she turned to open it, the charging teen knocked her unconscious.
Nearly a year later, Naydich still bears physical and mental scars from the attack. Her speech has slowed and she often struggles with routine cognitive functions.
Doctors are attempting to pin down a diagnosis for some of her symptoms.
‘Unfortunately, a lot of my injuries that are not visible I’m going to have for the rest of my life,’ Naydich explained.
‘I have no idea what closure looks like right now. I just want to be whole again.’
Of her attacker, she said: ‘I want to make sure he is not able to walk the streets freely.’
Responding to the prospect of a jail sentence, the boy’s adopted mother, Leanne Depa decried it as a ‘death sentence,’ while adding the ‘special needs’ teen was scared.
A judge will decide Depa’s fate on Jan. 31, with the special needs student facing anywhere between probation and 30 years behind bars.
Depa’s supporters assert his dysfunctional childhood and mental deficits should mitigate his term, while others — including Naydich herself — say he is undeserving of the court’s mercy.
