Hit-and-run victim Steven Wanna wants to go home to Cowley

Steven Wanna is still recovering from near-fatal injuries at a specialist facility in Northamptonshire, more than an hour away from his family in Oxford, after being run over near Nuneham Courtenay last year.

RECAP: Valentine's Day hit and run victim pieces life back together

The 21-year-old is now able to walk with crutches and he and his mother, Sandy Mar, think he will progress even more in the comfort of his own home in Cowley.

But Oxfordshire County Council plans to apply to the Court of Protection to become Mr Wanna’s 'deputy’, allowing it to make certain financial and health decisions on his behalf.

Trained nurse Ms Mar, 50, fears he will be ‘stuck there forever’ if the council takes control.

She said: "He is unhappy there and depressed.

"He was always a smiling boy and now every day he cries. It’s very lonely for him.

"My son is not parent-less, I can look after him - they don’t need to apply to the Court of Protection."

The council told Ms Mar it just wants to guide Mr Wanna in his ‘best interest’ and help him to access the benefits he is entitled to.

The former Abingdon and Witney College student had been out celebrating his birthday and was walking back towards Oxford when he was struck by a car in the early hours of February 14 last year.

RECAP: Steven narrowly avoids death in hit-and-run

He was found by friends bleeding unconscious on the A4074, and police have not yet caught the driver.

He was in a coma for three months after the Valentine’s Day smash, and was sent to Northamptonshire last October to for rehabilitation.

He suffered a brain injury, facial disfigurement and lost some of his senses.

Ms Mar described the hit-and-run as ‘brutal’ and said the ordeal had been worsened by the battle with the council, as well as her own health struggles with breast cancer and a brain tumour.

An adult can apply to become a deputy if someone lacks mental capacity, and is appointed by the Court of Protection to help manage their property and finances – such as paying their bills.

They can also apply to manage their personal welfare, meaning they can decide on medical treatment.

Ms Mar wants joint deputyship, so that all decisions relating to her son would have to be agreed by both her and the council.

But an email from a council social worker, seen by the Oxford Mail, advised Ms Mar that the council ‘does not make joint applications for deputyship’.

The email explained that Mr Wanna is currently ‘missing out’ on benefits he is entitled to, and the council wants to help ‘in his best interest’.

It added: “Please be assured that no one is refuting that you are Steven’s mother and feel that it is your duty to support him in all matters relating to his daily life.

“This is not about stopping you from caring for Steven, it is a formal process that will help in supporting the both of you in the long term.

“We all have to work together to secure a good future for Steven and this is one way social services can help."

Ms Mar said she felt the move took away her rights as a mother.

She added that part of the reason her son has not been discharged is because her council flat is not big enough.

She said she has persistently asked Oxford City Council for a two-bedroom ground floor home, to enable his care at home, but claimed it has been rejected three times.

Her change.org petition, lobbying for the city council to upsize her home, has been signed by almost 1,500 people.

The mother-of-two, who formerly worked as a nurse at the John Radcliffe Hospital, moved with Mr Wanna and his sister from Myanmar to the UK in 2003.

Steven Wanna months after the hit-and-run, pictured during rehabilitation 

Though he visits Oxford at weekends, she believes he will fare better at home with rehabilitation sessions at Headway in Kennington, which helps people with brain injuries.

She has appealed for legal help in fighting the council’s bid for deputyship.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail from his hospital bed via video message, Mr Wanna said: “I’m so sad – I just want to be home.

“I was in a wheelchair and now I can walk, I have come such a far way.

“I love my mum so much and she has made me the way I am - she always looks after me and helps and supports me so much.

“I’m so much better and want to go home.”

Ms Mar added: “He will marry and have children and study: he has lots of future ahead and I will support him however I can.

“I will fight with my last breath - they will not take away my son.”

The county council said it could not comment due to confidentiality.