A student has been left with amnesia and serious head injuries after she was hit by a car before the driver dragged her to the side of the road and left her for dead.

A student has been left with amnesia and serious head injuries after she was hit by a car before the driver dragged her to the side of the road and left her for dead.

Anya Bassano-Harper, 21, was walking to her boyfriend's house in the Golden Triangle area of Norwich at the time. Police are now appealing for information to track down the driver, describing him as “highly irresponsible”.

Miss Bassano-Harper was admitted to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital after being found by a taxi driver in College Road at its junction with Unthank Road at about 12.45am on January 30. The final year psychology student has since been discharged but continues to suffer from amnesia, telling the EDP: “I couldn't even remember I had a brother”.

Following the accident, the man in a white car pulled her to the side of the road using the hood of her top - leaving her skin grazed and possibly making her injuries worse.

She said: “All I remember is lying on the ground in pain with a man standing over me. Then I felt myself being pulled by the scruff of the neck. The next thing I knew I was waking up by the side of the road to be taken to hospital.”

Miss Bassano-Harper was forced to stay at the N&N for several days and is now recovering at her mother's home in Kent. At the weekend she was re-admitted to hospital after her condition deteriorated leaving her unable to walk unassisted for several days.

“I have very little residual memory and I am constantly confused,” she said. “My writing looks like a six-year-old's and when I arrived home I barely recognised the place.

“I'm in the final year of my studies and I have a dissertation to write and exams to take. I'm very worried this will set me back by a year, if not longer.”

Her mother Nikki Bassano said: “As a parent it makes me very angry to think somebody would be so reckless. Whether he had been drinking or he was uninsured, there's no excuse.

“He had no idea how serious her injuries were and, for all he knew, she could have died at the side of the road.”

Police spokeswoman Kristina Fox said: “It is highly irresponsible to fail to stop at the scene of an accident and check the injuries even if they may appear to be minor at the time.

“We would appeal for anyone who saw what happened to come forward. Unthank Road is a busy area for pedestrians and motorists even at this time of night.”

Contact PC Christopher Betts at the Central Area Road Policing unit in Wymondham on 0845 4564567.