The Greek grandmother who was brutally beaten outside a Melbourne church and left unconscious on the steps has forgiven her attacker, who has been jailed for five years.

Penelope Katsavos, 79, was unlocking the doors of the Greek Orthodox church in South Yarra for morning service on March 13, 2021, when she was viciously set upon by Amrick Roy.

She was on the church steps holding a shopping trolley containing food, cash, and her phone, when Roy, 27, approached her about 6am. He screamed at her and grabbed the trolley.

Roy then punched her in the face and Katsavos fell to the ground, hitting her head on the concrete steps. Roy fled with the troley, leaving the Greek yia yia unconscious.

A council worker found Katsavos at 6.30am and she was taken to hospital with a fractured hip and broken wrist, her face swollen and covered in cuts and bruises.

Roy was arrested by police five days later.

He lied to officers and said the elderly woman hit him first, a claim which the County Court of Victoria was told on Friday was likely made due to his “overwhelming shame”.

He was in a state of psychosis when he carried out the offence after smoking synthetic cannabis and drinking at Revolver nightclub earlier that evening, the court was told.

Before attacking Katsavos, Roy went on a spree of attacks. He attacked a club patron, a street cleaner, a man waiting outside the Chapel St Nike store and another man near Liquorland.

Roy’s assaults on those four men were not as violent because other people had intervened.

Roy pleaded guilty to five charges, including three assaults, recklessly causing injury to Ms Katsavos and robbery of her trolley.

The court was told that the grandmother has forgiven Roy for the attack, even though it has robbed her of her independence and ability to care for her husband.

“No sentence you are given will change the life sentence you have given me,” she wrote in a statement to court.

“I will continue to walk through this life with love and strength.”

Katsavos now requires a walking frame due to her injuries and had to move her husband into a nursing home as she can no longer care for him. She struggles daily with loneliness, sadness, and pain.

Judge John Carmody said Katsavos had exhibited grace and wisdom, as he described Roy’s offending as “unprovoked and gratuitous”.

“Ms Katsavos was an elderly woman, alone at a church door, going about her charitable work for others,” he said.

“The incident started because you wanted to take her trolley, after taking it you dumped it, left her on the footpath unconscious and helpless after the assault.

“Your offending is objectively serious.”

Roy has already served one-and-a-half years in pre-sentence detention. He must spend three-and-a-half years in prison before being eligible for parole.