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Olympian Rohan Dennis Receives Suspended Sentence Over Wife’s Death

The cyclist was sentenced to a suspended jail term and driving ban for an act likely to cause harm, following the fatal 2023 incident involving his wife, Melissa Hoskins.

The Australia team of (L-R) Annette Edmondson, Ashlee Ankudinoff, Amy Cure and Melissa Hoskins, attend the podium ceremony of the Women's Team pursuit Final at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, near Paris, February 19, 2015. Australia won the event. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo
Cycling - UCI World Championships 2023 - Stirling, Scotland, Britain - August 11, 2023 Australia's Rohan Dennis in action during the Men's Elite Road Individual Time Trial REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File Photo
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Overview

  • Rohan Dennis was sentenced to one year, four months, and 28 days in jail, suspended for two years, with a five-year driving ban, after pleading guilty to an aggravated act likely to cause harm.
  • Melissa Hoskins, a fellow Olympian, died in December 2023 after being struck by Dennis’s vehicle during a domestic dispute outside their Adelaide home.
  • The court heard that Hoskins climbed onto the car bonnet and later fell under the vehicle as Dennis drove away, though he was not held criminally responsible for her death.
  • Prosecutors and the defense agreed on a suspended sentence, citing Dennis’s guilty plea, remorse, and role as sole caregiver for the couple’s two young children.
  • Hoskins’s family expressed grief and frustration in victim impact statements, highlighting the loss’s impact on her children and the absence of an apology from Dennis.