A PEDESTRIAN has been left battling ‘life-changing’ injuries after she was hurled into the air and smashed onto a car windscreen during a horrific hit-and-run.

Angela Balkwill landed 10m in front of Mokhtar Bennagi’s £27,000 BMW 640 after the speeding driver struck her on Headington’s Old Road.

Asylum seeker Bennagi was locked up for 18 months after Judge Zoe Smith condemned the 26-year-old for his dangerous driving.

Sentencing on Thursday, the judge said the smash had a ‘devastating’ impact on the victim, who was left with an injury to her spleen and liver, as well as pelvic and leg fractures.

Ms Balkwill was crossing the 20mph road, spotting Bennagi’s car ‘some distance away’ at traffic lights on August 8 last year, prosecutor Alexandra Bull said.

The Libyan-native was in a right-turn only lane but realised he was in the wrong position, accelerating ahead at the lights in an attempt to overtake the vehicle on the nearside.

A witness at a nearby bus stop heard ‘heavy revving’ before claiming to see Bennagi racing towards his victim at about 40mph, the court was told.

Bennagi got into the left lane but then swiftly moved into the opposite carriageway as he approached Ms Balkwill, who had crossed part of the street. He then collided with the 65-year-old pedestrian, stopping momentarily before zooming off as she lay injured in the road.

The driver, of London Road, Headington, parked in a nearby road before heading home.

Bennagi, who could see 216.6m ahead of him from the traffic lights on the clear and dry day, was later arrested after calling police to confess.

Defence barrister Ian Beeby said Bennagi, who had a previous conviction for speeding on a motorway, had not taken a driving test in the UK since arriving in 2011.

His ‘lack of driving experience’ in the UK contributed to the tragedy, which left him shocked, the barrister claimed.

Mr Beeby said unemployed Bennagi was remorseful, adding: “There is no hard evidence of the speed being so excessive as to amount to 40mph in a 20mph zone. This is out of character.

“This is not, in my submission, an aggressive, youthful, testosterone-fuelled collision. This is a collision that has been fuelled by a lack of driving skills and having a slightly heavy right foot and powerful car.”

Bennagi, who admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, was banned from driving for two years and nine months, and must pay £550 costs and a victim surcharge.