Joan Naydich, beaten in viral video, looks to new chapter after Brendan Depa case

Joan Naydich begins each day assessing the physical and emotional aftermath of the beating she suffered by a former student at Matanzas High School in Palm Coast.

“Like just the injury is going to last forever, so every morning I wake up, I think about, like, I scan or I evaluate ... what's hurting,” Naydich said. “So every morning, I am reminded of that day.”

Among her injuries were broken ribs, a herniated disc and a concussion, hearing and vision loss, Naydich said, along with post-traumatic stress disorder from the beating.

She said Brendan Depa’s sentencing earlier this month closed that violent chapter in her life. School security cameras recorded the defining moment as Depa charged out of a classroom, knocked Naydich off her feet and kicked and punched her as she lay unconscious face down on the floor.

The attack lasted nearly 30 seconds before several people managed to pull Depa off of her as he continued to try and kick her. A charging affidavit listed the teen as 6 feet 6 inches tall and over 200 pounds.

Circuit Judge Terence Perkins Aug. 6 adjudicated Depa guilty of aggravated battery on a school board employee and sentenced him to five years in state prison followed by 15 years of probation.

"I'm satisfied with the sentence,” Naydich told The News-Journal during a recent interview.

“Even though it was a five-year sentence in the Department of Corrections, he's still got 15 years of probation,” Naydich said.

The judge ordered that once Depa is released from prison he must move to a group home, where he will remain until a court says he can leave.

In sending the teen to prison, Perkins cited Depa’s escalating aggression and his brutal beating of Naydich. Perkins cited testimony from an expert who testified the attack had been an intentional act by Depa.

"He knew that it was wrong. He admitted to Dr. (Gregory) Prichard (a psychologist and a state witness) that he knew it was wrong. Wished he hadn't done it. But he did it anyway," Perkins said.

Did Depa plan to apologize to Joan Naydich?

Perkins also noted that Depa had not expressed remorse at any court hearing. During the sentencing, Depa’s attorney said there had been a change of heart about him making a statement. Depa’s attorney did not say what the statement was.

But News-Journal photographer David Tucker captured an image of Depa holding a piece of paper up to his attorneys. Not all the hand-written words on the paper were clear. But the word “apology” appeared to be written on the top line, like a title.

At the bottom of the page, a line appears to read: "I made a mistake. One I will never let happen again and I am sorry."

After the sentencing Depa showed his displeasure as he was being led out of the courtroom by making an obscene gesture with his middle finger at The News-Journal photographer.

But regardless of what Depa wrote, he did not read it in court. The judge never heard it. Naydich never heard it. Naydich said if the statement would have been an apology, it was too late.

“Now he wants to apologize, and I think the apology is empty,” Naydich said. “It's not heartfelt or anything. It's just like an awareness of how serious the crime was, you know, he's trying to lessen what kind of sentence he could get.”

She recalled that Depa threatened to kill her as he was led away by deputies after the attack.

“There was no remorse that was ever expressed from day one. From day one it was, ‘Oh, I didn't kill her. Oh, when I see her next, I will,’ you know it was, ‘I'm going to kill her,’” she said.

Naydich said she tried to avoid looking at Depa during the hearing.

“No, I tried to keep away,” Naydich said. ”I think throughout those nine hours, I caught a glimpse of him once. I really tried not to look in his direction.”

Naydich said that prison perhaps will get through to Depa that violence is no way to handle a situation.

“Because for the last 12 years prior to that, I mean, everybody's just slapped him on the hand and let him go and walk away,” Naydich said.

Depa is serving his time at the Wakulla Correctional Institution Annex near Crawfordville in Florida’s Big Bend area, according to the Florida Department of Corrections website. His current release date is listed as Feb. 19, 2028. Depa received credit for the time he spent in jail and at a juvenile facility waiting for his case to be resolved.

Depa has a new attorney, Robert Malove, who has filed a notice of appeal.

Naydich disagrees with some of the testimony

Naydich pushed back against some of the testimony from defense witnesses saying that Depa’s individualized education plan had not been followed. The plan included information on how to deal with Depa, including that his gaming system could trigger a reaction from him.

Naydich said she texted a teacher that Depa using the gaming system had disrupted class. But she said she did not talk to him directly or take away his game.

“I never confronted him, like that would be something that would have been done over the phone to the group home,” she said.

She said Depa was angry that she had told the teacher.

Naydich also said that she did not know that Depa had gotten violent with staff at a residential facility in South Carolina which specializes in autism. He was at that facility before moving to the group home in Palm Coast.

“I was unaware of what he had done in the past. I never thought he would touch an adult, you know,” Naydich said. “I had seen that he would get angry with other kids or whatever else, but not for one second did I ever, ever think that he would go after an adult, let alone me.”

She said she didn’t think he would attack her because she would see him daily, receiving him in the morning, getting him to breakfast, taking him back to classes and to take his medicine.

“So of everybody, I spent a lot of one-on-one time with him throughout the day,” Naydich said.

She referred to testimony from witnesses who said Depa was intelligent, which Naydich said she had maintained since the beginning.

“He wasn't as everybody was portraying him as being incompetent of understanding,” she said.

Sitting through the sentencing hearing which lasted all day was not easy.

“It's really hard to sit there for nine hours listening to what's broken on me. What healed on me. What didn't heal on me. Sitting there just listening to all of this. This is what happened to me that day,” Naydich said.

And as for the video that it seems like the whole world has watched, Naydich said: “I never watched it, never, no, still haven't watched it.”

She added: “I think that has to do with I just don't want to give the video any, any power over me, you know?”

She also said she does not want to watch the video because it may make her upset about what she said was the slow response from people who she said could have come to her aid sooner during the attack.

"Because I really feel like, I mean, everybody in that video failed me that day,” she said. "That would be my biggest question that like, and the answer to is, why did they let it, let his assault on me go on for so long, like they left me for dead," she said.

She pushed back against testimony during the trial that Depa’s individual education plan was not followed. For one, she said she never received his IEP.

"I did nothing wrong. I messaged the teacher that day when I had a problem, I did not interact and go at him one-on-one," Naydich said.

She said she has been a mother for 30 years and she brought a lot of that experience to the job as a lunch lady at school and later as a paraprofessional, the position she held when she was attacked.

She said she had never confronted a child in her 19 years in the school system.

“The other thing, as far as being a para, the duties of being a para, do not include combat,” she said.

She said that she considers herself on leave from the school system.

When asked about her status, a Flagler County School District spokesman declined to comment citing "pending litigation." He did not respond when asked specifically what litigation he was referring to.

Naydich said she has not filed a lawsuit against the school system. She said an attorney has advised her on workman's comp issues.

Naydich said she is seeing a counselor who has helped her to handle the aftermath. She said not looking at Depa during the hearing was one example of that.

“That's given me a lot of tools to be able to not look at him and not give him the power, you know, just different things," she said.

Naydich has received support from many. A GoFundMe after the attack raised thousands of dollars for her. But she said she has also received hate.

“You know, 'You white,' whatever, you know, 'You white, old lady' ..." Naydich said. "I delete them and go on."

Depa’s foster mother said that he was sentenced to prison in part because he was Black.

Naydich said Leanne Depa was making excuses.

“It was a race card, you know. But there she sits. A white, middle-aged woman as I am," Naydich said.

Naydich recalled testimony from the foster mother who said she sent Depa away to the South Carolina facility in because she couldn’t tend to him while her husband and her daughter experienced health problems.

“Again I say, and I think I've said it before, she was, she was the biggest failure," Naydich said.

She said the foster mother should have taught Depa right from wrong and gotten him the help he needed when he was younger.

Leanne Depa had not yet returned a call seeking comment.

Naydich said she is not sure what her future holds.

She continues working at a bowling alley. Her son was a champion bowler at Matanzas High School and has since graduated. He is attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

So what is the next chapter for Naydich?

Naydich said: "I'm just glad that this chapter is over, looking forward to moving on to the next one."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Joan Naydich, teacher's aide beaten by Brendan Depa, looks to future