Teacher Wants Student Who Beat Her To Get a 30-Year Sentence

by Stacy Jackson

November 17, 2023

A teacher’s aide is requesting a student receive the maximum 30-year sentence after he attacked her in class.

A teacher’s aide in Florida has released photos following an altercation that turned violent between her and a student.

Joan Naydich suffered brutal injuries after being attacked by one of her students at Matanzas High School in Palm Coast, Florida, where she worked as an aide, Daily Mail reported. The student, Brendan Depa, a 270-pound, 6-foot 6-inch teen, attacked Naydich after she asked him to stop playing his Nintendo Switch. According to the outlet, Naydich says the student was upset with a different staff member who would not allow him to play his Nintendo Switch, but she did not take his device from him.

Depa, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident and is autistic, pleaded no contest as an adult for first-degree aggravated battery. He faces charges after kicking and punching the aide in the back and head until she was rendered unconscious. 

Naydich suffered extensive injuries: five broken ribs, a concussion, and a loss of hearing. Newer images reveal gashes on her cheek, bruising around her eyes, a bloodshot eye, a tear on the back of her ear, and a dent on her nose, the outlet reported.

Depa faces sentencing on Jan. 31. Naydich is requesting the judge give him the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The student’s family was hoping to reduce or eradicate all prison time to allow them to focus on his treatment; however, the defense team has not budged. 

“Unfortunately, a lot of my injuries that are not visible I’m going to have for the rest of my life,” Naydich said in an interview with Fox Orlando. Naydich returned to work in August in a different position, where she was placed on unpaid leave. To support her financially, she has been surviving off of charitable donations from the community, according to Daily Mail.

“I was attacked on February 21st and I feel like I’m just constantly being attacked,” Naydich said to Fox Orlando. 

According to Daily Mail, Naydich has expressed that she does not feel supported by the Flagler County School District and has been battling to get her workers’ compensation case approved. Naydich has been working with physicians who are seeking a diagnosis for her neurological symptoms, according to the outlet.

After a court-appointed psychologist determined Depa’s competency to stand trial, he awaits his sentencing by Circuit Judge Terence Perkins early next year. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 31.

Depa is being held at the Flagler County Jail on a $1 million bond.

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