A man has pleaded guilty over the shocking hospital carjacking that left a Melbourne grandmother fearing she would die without seeing her family again.

Adam Barry entered the plea in Victoria’s County Court on Wednesday over the April 2025 incident where Mary Iviglia was dragged alongside and run over by her own car outside Casey Hospital.

The court heard Ms Iviglia had driven her sick husband, Jorge, to the hospital’s emergency department on April 23 and left their Ford Territory idling while she helped him inside.

She was away from the vehicle for just 13 seconds.

Barry, who had reportedly just been discharged from the same hospital, climbed into the driver’s seat. Ms Iviglia attempted to pull him out, but he accelerated while she was still hanging from the vehicle.

The 66-year-old was thrown onto the road before the car’s rear wheel ran over her, narrowly missing her head, according to Nine’s court report.

Ms Iviglia suffered a punctured lung and fractures to her ribs and around her eyes. She spent a week in intensive care.

In a victim-impact statement read to the court, she recalled believing she might never see her family again.

“I remember clearly laying in the back of the ambulance praying, ‘Please God, don’t let this be the way I leave this world without seeing my loved ones,’” she said.

CCTV released during earlier proceedings showed Ms Iviglia desperately holding open the car door as the vehicle began moving. She was dragged alongside it before falling face-first onto the road and being struck by the rear passenger-side wheel.

“The physical injuries you caused me put me in ICU for a week,” she previously told the court.

“My sense of safety has been shattered by these events.

“I hope the court considers the profound impact this has had on me, and I pray no one else has to go through this.”

After leaving the hospital, Barry drove towards Wonthaggi. The court heard he stopped at service stations and fast-food restaurants and used Ms Iviglia’s bank card to buy cigarettes and meals.

Earlier proceedings were told he visited McDonald’s outlets in Clyde and Pakenham and a community corrections centre in Wonthaggi before police arrested him in Pioneer Bay. Officers found the vehicle’s key in his pocket.

Barry reportedly told police he had taken the vehicle because he needed somewhere to sleep.

His lawyer told Wednesday’s hearing that Barry’s childhood had been characterised by trauma, violence and abuse. The court also heard he was remorseful and had written Ms Iviglia a letter of apology.

Barry had no fixed address at the time of the incident. His original court appearance was told he had autism, ADHD and depression and was taking antipsychotic medication.

He was also on bail at the time and was already subject to a community correction order over separate dangerous driving offending.

Barry has now spent 504 days in custody and is expected to be sentenced later this month.

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Man pleads guilty to horrific hospital carjacking that left Melbourne grandmother scarred for life