Dolars Aleksanders is due to be sentenced today at Warwick Crown Court for killing 12-year-old Keaton Slater in a hit-and-run crash in Coventry in 2024, before fleeing the country to Latvia. The judge has ordered him to appear in person so he can face Keaton’s family as they read their victim impact statements.

Aleksanders, 23, pleaded guilty in September to causing death by dangerous driving. He struck Keaton on Radford Road on 14 June 2024 as the schoolboy was crossing the road shortly after 4.30pm, while driving a BMW at more than 70mph on a 30mph road. Keaton died at the scene.

Aleksanders drove off after the collision. His car was found abandoned in Frederick Road, Coventry, more than six miles away, around 20 minutes later. By the time police had identified him as the prime suspect, he had already left the UK and fled to Latvia.

Two-year hunt ended in extradition

West Midlands Police traced Aleksanders to Latvia working with Europol, the Crown Prosecution Service, the National Crime Agency and other authorities, and he was extradited to the UK on 5 August this year after a year-long inquiry. He appeared at Warwick Crown Court in September, entered his guilty plea and was remanded ahead of sentencing on 13 November.

At the plea hearing, Judge Matthew Walsh told Aleksanders that the sentence he faced would be “a very long one”, and that it would be determined by Judge Kristina Montgomery KC.

Keaton’s family have waited more than two years for this day. Speaking in September after the guilty plea, they said: “For two years, we have struggled to come to terms with Keaton’s death while also having to live with the devastating feeling that justice has not been done.” They added: “Nothing will ever bring our beautiful boy back. No sentence, no outcome and no words can ever take away the pain of losing him.”

Ordered to face the family

It had been thought Aleksanders could not be compelled to attend his sentencing, but Coventry North West MP Taiwo Owatemi said the judge has now ordered him to appear in person following representations to the justice minister on the family’s behalf, the BBC reported.

Keaton’s mother, Louise, said she wanted Aleksanders to hear directly about the impact his death had on the family. “For him not to listen to that, it infuriates me,” she told BBC Breakfast. She said she wanted to read her victim impact statement directly to him “because that, to me, will finalise it off”.

Detective Chief Inspector Sam Lewis, who led the investigation, said: “Keaton should have had his life ahead of him, but the selfish and reckless actions of Aleksanders took this away from him. Aleksanders was speeding at an excessive level and would have known the impact of the collision. He could have sought to help Keaton but instead fled, leaving him to die.”

The government is set to introduce tougher punishments for offenders who refuse to attend their sentencing hearings, a change Keaton’s family and their MP have campaigned for.