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THE teenager who beat a teaching aide unconscious over a Nintendo Switch has broken his silence about the attack.
Last year, Brendan Depa, then 17, shoved Joan Naydich, an employee of Matanzas High School in Florida, which caused her to fall on the ground before he continued kicking and punching her while she was unconscious.
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The 6-foot-6, 270-pound student pummeled the teaching aide 15 times before school staff intervened and cops arrested the autistic teenager.
The 59-year-old was left with serious injuries following the attack including hearing loss, vision loss, headaches, and PTSD.
At Depa’s sentencing on August 6 when he was given five years in prison followed by 15 years of probation, the judge detailed Naydich’s physical and mental injuries.
“What she does remember now is the pain that was caused by her five broken ribs, her concussion, her herniated disks in her back, her headache and dizziness, her hearing and vision losses, her cognitive problems, PTSD, panic attacks, all of those things,” Circuit Judge Terence Perkins said in a video shared by Court TV.
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During the hearing, the Judge claimed he neither saw nor heard any remorse from Depa about his actions.
However, his current tutor has refuted this by producing an apology allegedly written by Depa while in custody.
‘DEEP REGRET’
“Many people have claimed that I feel no remorse for the incident of last year and that I don’t take responsibility for my actions. This is not true,” the teenager wrote in the note shared by NewsNation.
“I am extremely sorry for injuring Miss Joan so severely. I recognize what I did was wrong and take responsibility for my actions, I deeply regret allowing my emotions to get the best of me and letting things happen the way that they did.”
“I believe what I did should not define who I am,” he continued.
“In a choice between letting this incident destroy, define, or strengthen me, I have chosen to let it strengthen me.”
The 18-year-old explained how his time in jail has helped him develop “coping skills” for the future and that he has “grown and matured” to the point where he is “grateful” for his incarceration.
“I made a mistake – one I will never let happen again and I am sorry,” Depa concluded.
However, Naydich previously told the court that she doubts she will ever recover from the incident.
“Brendan Depa’s actions that day have caused me to lose a job that I had for almost 19 years, lose my financial security, lose my health insurance,” Naydich told the court at a hearing in May.
“Everything was taken away. My life will never be what it was before.
Brendan Depa Case – An Overview
Who: Brendan Depa, 18 years old, six foot six, weighing around 270 pounds.
When: February 2023
Where: Matanzas High School in Palm Coast, Florida
Crime: At the age of 17, Depa shoved a teaching aide to the ground, knocking her unconscious before punching her 15 times at repeatedly kicking her.
Victim: Mother of two Joan Naydich, 59, who worked for the school district.
Impact on Victim: Five broken ribs, concussion, herniated disks in her back, headaches and dizziness, hearing and vision losses, cognitive issues, PTSD, and panic attacks.
Pleaded: No Contest
Defense: Depa is on the Autism spectrum and is “neurologically compromised.” Attorney also claimed that the school failed to support the teenager with his disabilities despite warnings.
Sentencing: Five years in Florida state prison followed by 15 years of supervised probation.
“Every day is a challenge. Unfortunately, a lot of my injuries that are not visible I’m going to have for the rest of my life.”
‘NEEDS HELP’
The teenager was facing a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison for the shocking attack but was only given five.
After serving his prison sentence he will be released to a group home on probation where he will continue to get treatment.
The judge may have reduced Depa’s sentence given the testimony of an autism disorders specialist and his adoptive mother Leann Depa.
Autism disorders specialist Kimberly Spence told the judge during the trial that Depa is “neurologically compromised,” per Court TV.
While the judge ignored calls by the defense to give Depa juvenile sanctions rather than adult ones, he will have taken this into account.
In addition to this, Leann Depa claimed that the school district “completely disregarded” her son’s disability after she warned them that electronics were a “trigger for escalating behaviors.”
“I had told the school that being hungry was a trigger, that noise was a trigger, that being told no was a trigger, that being corrected in front of other people was a trigger, and electronics was a huge trigger,” she told the court.
“I think he needs help, and I think he needs treatment. But I don’t think he needs to be put away in a prison where he’s going to be taken advantage of or harmed,” she said, per the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
After his sentencing, his mother told NewsNation that Depa was scared and crying, telling her “I don’t want to die.”
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