Former individual time trial world champion Rohan Dennis has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge related to the incident resulting in the death of his wife, Melissa Hoskins.
Dennis today entered a guilty plea to an aggravated count of creating likelihood of harm relating to a crash near the couple’s Adelaide home on the evening of December 30, 2023. Prosecutors had initially charged Dennis with the greater offences of dangerous driving causing death and an aggravated charge of driving without due care, but over the past year Dennis and his legal team negotiated for the reduced charge. Prosecutors dropped the more serious charges today, replacing them with the single charge to which Dennis pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors accepted Dennis’s plea on the basis that while his actions were reckless, he did not intend to kill his wife.
Dennis had been behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Amorak when he struck Hoskins. She suffered severe injuries and was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for treatment, but died soon after.
His legal defence, Jane Abbey KC, said that “there was no intention of Mr Dennis to harm his wife and this charge does not charge him with responsibility for her death,” she said.
Following his guilty plea, Dennis faces a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment and a five year loss of license. He left Adelaide Magistrate’s Court to a gaggle of media and a waiting car, and did not make any remarks.
Dennis is a dual Olympic medallist, dual world champion, and Tour de France stage winner; he retired at the end of the 2023 season. Hoskins was a beloved member of the Australian cycling team, having competed at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. She was a World Champion in the 2015 team pursuit, and retired from the sport in 2017, becoming a mother to two children with Dennis.
In a statement released by Hoskins’s family following her sudden death, her father wrote “words cannot convey our grief, sadness and the tragic circumstances of Melissa’s passing … Not only have we lost a daughter and sister, her children have lost their mum, a freewheeling spirit, a giver with a big heart, patience and zest for life.”
Dennis remains on bail. His next court date will be for sentencing on January 24 at Adelaide’s District Court.