Florida teacher brutally beaten unconscious by 270-pound teenage student says she’s been forced to live on donations after being put on unpaid leave by school – and wants the attacker locked up for up to 30 years

A Florida teacher who was assaulted by a student claims she has been forced to live on donations after being put on unpaid leave by the school.

Joan Naydich was violently attacked at Matanzas High School in February by Brendan Depa, then 17, after she told him to stop playing his Nintendo Switch.

The 6ft 4in autistic teenager, now 18, was seen punching and kicking the teacher in the back and head until she lay unconscious on the floor. He pleaded no contest as an adult to first-degree aggravated battery.

Naydich claimed she was placed on unpaid leave shortly after returning to work in August under a different title and that she survived thanks to community charity.

Her revelation comes weeks before a court hearing in which Depa will be sentenced and Naydich calls on the former student to be imprisoned for a maximum of thirty years.

Naydich suffered five broken ribs, a severe concussion and hearing loss in one of her ears after the attack.

“I was attacked on February 21 and I feel like I’m constantly being attacked,” she said Fox35.

The educator said she has struggled to get her workers’ compensation case resolved.

She claimed she returned to work in August under a different title but was placed on unpaid leave just a few days later.

Naydich said she is frustrated by the lack of support from the Flagler County School District. She revealed that she hasn’t watched the video since it was released and she doesn’t want to.

Naydich said Depa was angry at another staff member for not allowing him to play his Nintendo Switch.

She confirmed that she had not taken his device from him before the attack.

She has visited several doctors looking for a diagnosis for some of the neurological symptoms she now has.

‘Everyone who knows or knew me [before the attack], know that I am a completely different person now,” she said. ‘My whole life turned upside down.’

Naydich claimed that her speech had slowed, she had problems with patience and often had difficulty with routine cognitive functions.

“Unfortunately, I will carry many of my injuries, which are not visible, for the rest of my life,” she added.

Depa has pleaded no contest to the charges and now faces a prison sentence of up to 30 years, which is what Naydich wants.

She said she is willing to speak out at trial if necessary.

“I want to make sure he can’t walk the streets freely,” she added.

“I have no idea what the closure looks like at this point. I just want to be whole again.”

Depa had three previous battery arrests before the attack in February and was involved in a prison fight in September, the Post reported.

He was led into court in handcuffs in Florida on October 30, wearing an orange jumpsuit, to plead guilty to the charges. The minimum recommended prison sentence is just under three years.

His lawyer, Kurt Teifke, tried to have him declared incompetent to stand trial because he is autistic.

A court-appointed psychologist ruled that Depa was in fact competent to stand trial and Judge Terence Perkins will decide his fate early next year.

Depa’s family had hoped to minimize or eliminate the prison sentence altogether and instead focus on their son’s probation and treatment, but the prosecutor appears to have been unwilling to negotiate.

Naydich has also shown ‘no interest in softening the penalties that Depa could face’.

He is currently being held in the Flagler County Jail on a $1 million bond and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 31.

DailyMail.com has contacted the Flagler County School District for comment.