Melbourne grandmother, Penelope Katsavos, is recovering in hospital after being left with horrific injuries from a brutal bashing outside Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox church in South Yarra.

Penelope was opening the church in South Yarra at about 6am on Saturday morning when she was viciously attacked.

A man grabbed the 78-year-old’s shopping trolley, punched her in the face, pushed her over and kicked her while she was on the ground.

The grandmother-of-six suffered bleeding on the brain in two spots, a fractured wrist and pelvis, as well as some severe bruising. 

She is now in a stable condition in hospital recovering from her injuries, but there are fears she may never fully recover from the brutal attack. 

A photo taken in hospital shows the brave elderly Greek woman flashing a smile as she reads from a bible, her reading glasses shielding a swollen black eye.

“It saddens me to talk about… to think about the pain that she actually went through,” her son, Evri, told 7NEWS.

“(It’s) just real gutless to hit anyone, let alone an elderly person… defenceless.”

Penelope is a full-time carer for her husband Thomas, who has dementia. The couple has devoted themselves to voluntary work for the church for more than 30 years.

His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia sent his well wishes to Penelope and her family after hearing of the attack and said in a media release that the Archdiocese would be “strongly on the side of our hospitalised parishioner for whatever is required in this recovery process.”

“I express my deepest sorrow, as well as my strong disapproval, for this violent act towards a beloved member of our Church,” His Eminence continued.

**UPDATE**

CCTV of a man Victoria police wish to speak to over the bashing of Penelope has been released.

He has been described as Caucasian in appearance, with a thin build, dark coloured hair, moustache and was wearing a brown t-shirt, dark coloured pants and shoes.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information have been urged to contact police.

Attorney-General, Christian Porter, has launched Federal Court defamation proceedings against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan.

Porter is suing the public broadcaster over an online article that he alleges portrays him as the perpetrator of a “brutal” rape that contributed to a woman taking her own life.

In a statement of claim lodged on Monday, it is evident that Mr Porter, who is on medical leave, is seeking damages, including aggravated damages, for a February 26 article published on the ABC’s website, headlined “Scott Morrison, senators and AFP told of historical rape allegation against Cabinet Minister.”

ABC journalist Louise Milligan, who broke the story, is also named as a party to the lawsuit.

Mr Porter, who is not named in the ABC article, has retained a trio of high-powered lawyers, including Sydney barristers Bret Walker, SC, and Sue Chrysanthou, SC, and solicitor Rebekah Giles to represent him.

“Over the last few weeks, the Attorney-General has been subjected to trial by media without regard to the presumption of innocence or the rules of evidence and without any proper disclosure of the material said to support the untrue allegations,” Ms Giles said in a statement on Monday.

“The trial by media should now end with the commencement of these proceedings.”

Ms Giles foreshadowed that Mr Porter would give evidence in the proceedings.

Mr Porter has strenuously denied allegations made by a woman that he raped her during a debating tournament in Sydney in 1988. The woman took her own life last year, after telling NSW Police that she did not wish to pursue her complaint.

The Attorney-General’s lawyers say Mr Porter was readily identifiable as the unnamed cabinet minister in the ABC’s online story, and his name was “trending prominently on Twitter” after it was published.

The article, they say, also conveys that Mr Porter was “reasonably suspected by police” of rape, warranting criminal charges being brought against him, and there were “reasonable grounds for suspecting” both that he committed the crime and that it “contributed to [the woman] taking her own life.”

Mr Porter was “obliged” to identify himself on March 3, they say.

Ms Chrysanthou and Ms Giles have acted successfully for a series of high-profile defamation plaintiffs, many of them women, including Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young against former Liberal Democratic Party senator David Leyonhjelm.

In recent days, Ms Chrysanthou and Ms Giles also acted for former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, who has alleged she was raped by a former staffer in the office of Defence Minister Linda Reynolds.

Ms Chrysanthou has even acted for actor Geoffrey Rush in his successful defamation suit against The Daily Telegraph, which resulted in a record $2.9 million payout.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.

A 78-year-old woman has been viciously attacked on the stairs outside the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox church in South Yarra, according to 3AW693.

Penelope was opening the church in South Yarra at about 6am on Saturday morning when she was attacked.

A man and woman approached her, and the male punched her in the face, pushed her to the ground and kicked her.

She lay alone on the ground on Barry Street for half an hour before she was found by a council worker.

Her hip and wrist were fractured in the cruel attack and she has bleeds on the brain.

Penelope’s daughter-in-law, Erin Katsavos, says it was a senseless attack.

“They did initially take her shopping trolley but they just discarded it without stealing anything, no money, not her phone. They’ve just done it,” she told Neil Mitchell from 3AW693.

“We’re just shocked … and just devastated for her. We want the people who did this to be found, so that, firstly, they can’t do it anybody else, and that they’re held accountable for what they’ve done.”

It’s too early to tell if Penelope will make a full recovery.

“They’re still monitoring what’s going on with her brain,” Ms Katsavos said.

Source: 3AW693.