Teacher Brutalized by 270-lb Student Rejects Activists' Pleas for Leniency, Wants Him to Face Maximum Sentence
A Florida teachers’ aide who was badly beaten by a 17-year-old student nearly a year ago wants her assailant to spend decades in prison for his crime.
Brendan Depa, an autistic 270-pound, 6-foot-6-inch man now 18 who was tried as an adult, confessed to beating Joan Naydich and pleaded “no contest” to the single felony charge of aggravated battery filed against him after beating the school paraprofessional after she recommended that his Nintendo Switch be confiscated, according to Unilad.
That charge carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Depa’s victim has been calling for the maximum sentence all along.
“He definitely needs to be in jail,” Naydich told the New York Post. “He needs to be in jail for what he did to me. I’m in my own jail of sorts every single day I wake up.”
Naydich said she had lost her income and all of her benefits since suffering five broken ribs and a concussion in the beating.
She still has issues with her vision and hearing, she told the outlet.
She also said that proponents of a lighter sentence for Depa have been exaggerating his disabilities.
“He’s not autistic like everybody believes he is,” Naydich said. “They are painting a picture of him that he’s not able to think for himself. He’s working on his GED in jail and he almost has it.
“His mother has painted a picture of him that he’s incapable of putting socks on,” she said.
Leanne Depa, the attacker’s adoptive mother, didn’t blame Naydich but said the school district had to share some of the blame after it deviated from a treatment plan for her student that it had previously approved.
“This should never have been a criminal case,” she argued.
“I’m not blaming Joan,” she said. “In no way do I blame Joan for what happened. I blame the district. It’s a systemic problem. There is not enough funding and there’s a shortage of paraprofessionals.”
Video of the Feb. 21, 2023, incident at the Palm Coast, Florida, school showed Brendan Depa attacking Naydich and knocking her unconscious.
According to an affidavit, Depa hit Naydich in the back and on the back of the head about 15 times.
WARNING: Some viewers will find the following video disturbing.
Teacher confiscates student’s Nintendo Switch during class.
Student then attacks her, kicking and punching her, leaving her unconscious. pic.twitter.com/SeDa7vp6k5
— Peter Lloyd (@Suffragent_) February 24, 2023
Brendan Depa is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 31.
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