“Rohan Dennis given suspended sentence over death of Olympian wife Melissa Hoskins”
Former skilled bike owner Rohan Dennis has been handed a suspended sentence for the occasions main as much as the dying of his Olympian spouse Melissa Hoskins in December 2023.
Dennis, 34, beforehand pleaded responsible to an aggravated cost of making probability of hurt over the dying.
Ms Hoskins was struck by a automobile pushed by her husband, exterior the couple’s Medindie dwelling, in Adelaide’s inside north.
Prosecutors dropped a cost of harmful driving inflicting dying and an aggravated cost of driving with out due care.
Rohan Dennis receives a two-year suspended sentence over the dying of Melissa Hoskins. (ABC Information: Marco Catalano)
Dennis was handed a 17-month jail time period — however that sentence was suspended on a two-year good-behaviour bond, that means he is not going to serve time in jail.
He has additionally been banned from driving for 5 years.
Within the District Courtroom on Wednesday, Choose Ian Press stated that to explain what had occurred as “tragic” wouldn’t do justice to the incident.
Melissa Hoskins pictured on the UCI Observe Biking World Championships in Melbourne in 2012. (AAP Picture: Joe Castro)
He reiterated Dennis was not criminally answerable for inflicting Ms Hoskins’s dying.
“To describe the consequences of the events on 30 December 2023 as tragic really does not do justice to the grief, the anguish and the turmoil those events have brought into the lives of those who knew and loved your wife,” Choose Press informed Dennis.
“I accept you have a sense of responsibility for all that occurred. I accept you have anguished over what could have been different if you had acted in some other way.“
Dennis drove 75 metres with spouse on automobile bonnet
Choose Press stated the couple had argued over dwelling renovations on the evening of the incident.
He stated the pair had agreed up to now that, due to the “single-mindedness” which had made them extremely profitable athletes, Dennis would go away in the event that they argued so they might each relax.
“That is what you intended to do … [but] your wife, however, jumped onto and lay on the bonnet of your vehicle in an apparent attempt to stop you from leaving as she wanted to continue to discuss the issue,” Choose Press stated.
He stated whereas it was “impossible to be precise”, Dennis continued to drive down the lane for about 75 metres at a velocity of about 20 kilometres per hour.
“This act forms part of the offence. Driving at any speed when a person is on the bonnet is an inherently risky and dangerous act,”
he stated.
He stated Dennis slowed down and Ms Hoskins received off the bonnet and continued strolling subsequent to the automobile, earlier than opening the door whereas the automobile was nonetheless transferring.
Emergency providers on the Medindie scene the place Melissa Hoskins was struck. (ABC Information)
Choose Press stated Dennis shut the door earlier than accelerating the automobile in “what appears to be an attempt to drive away from her”.
“You did so in circumstances in which Ms [Hoskins] was very close to the car and you knew that,” he stated.
He stated it was the act of driving whereas Ms Hoskins was on the bonnet that created “a risk of her being harmed, and you knew that but continued to drive anyway”.
“What happened next does not form the basis of the charge,” he stated.
Choose Ian Press says Rohan Dennis was not criminally answerable for inflicting Melissa Hoskins’s dying. (ABC Information)
Choose Press stated it was “unbeknownst” to Dennis that Ms Hoskins had “held onto the car” as he accelerated down the road, and that Ms Hoskins then got here off the automobile.
“There is no allegation that you knew, or even contemplated, the likelihood that your wife was still running next to the car as you continued to drive down the street for only a matter of a second or two,” he stated.
He stated Dennis then instantly stopped the automobile and attended to his spouse.
“You are not to be sentenced for causing the death of [Ms Hoskins], you are not charged with causing it,” he stated.
Prosecutor Tali Costi forward of Dennis’s sentencing in South Australia’s District Courtroom. (ABC Information: Marco Catalano)
However he stated it might be tough to “disconnect” Dennis’s legal acts from what adopted.
“That you have questioned yourself as to what could have been different if you had acted differently only reinforces that fact,” he stated.
“I accept that a stoic presentation does not necessarily mean you do not feel a sense of guilt for all that happened.
“While there might be no disputing your driving, given it was captured on CCTV, I settle for you cooperated with police and had informed them what had occurred.
“It was your obligation to stop the vehicle when driving that vehicle became dangerous to her physical wellbeing.
“That you simply didn’t cease since you wished to go away is a really poor cause for not doing so.”
Amanda and Peter Hoskins converse exterior court docket after Rohan Dennis was sentenced. (ABC Information: Marco Catalano)
Judge Press said he had considered the victim impact statements read to the court, but that he would not try to describe the “immeasurable loss” Ms Hoskins’s loved ones felt.
“Nothing I may say would adequately or appropriately summarise the influence the occasions of that evening have had on them,” he stated.
Dennis’s defence barrister Jane Abbey KC arriving at court docket forward of the sentencing. (ABC Information: Marco Catalano)
The judge made reference to Dennis’s successful cycling career.
“Among the persona traits that you simply used to your benefit when competing at an elite degree could not at all times be applicable in different settings,” Choose Press stated.
The choose stated there was “a necessity to discourage others driving a automobile in risky conditions from doing something aside from exercising nice care”.
He stated Dennis was now the only real carer for the couple’s two younger kids, and it was vital he may proceed to take care of them.
‘We miss Melissa terribly’
Dennis was sitting throughout most of the proceedings, but was asked to stand to hear the penalty imposed.
Ms Hoskins’s mom Amanda was audibly upset contained in the courtroom, and he or she and her husband Peter later wiped away tears whereas addressing the media exterior.
Amanda and Peter Hoskins held arms as they left court docket on Wednesday. (ABC Information: Marco Catalano)
They stated they have been “glad” the matter had been finalised, and that the case had been shortened by Dennis’s guilty plea.
“It is now time for us to maneuver on, which might be Melissa’s expectations of us. Clearly, we need to proceed to be an integral a part of their kids’s lives and their future,” Mr Hoskins stated.
“How we do that in a significant manner, and a related manner, will take time as we refocus on our lives going ahead with out Melissa.
“With respect to Rohan — as hard as it’s going to be — it’s important that we also have a well-mannered relationship with him.
“We want to thank everyone who has supported us, and brought day out to examine on us and our household, throughout what has been, and continues to be, a tough time.
“We miss Melissa terribly. She was someone really special.“
Former skilled bike owner Melissa Hoskins died in December 2023. (Fb)
Mr Hoskins stated it was vital the household took “time to process” what had occurred earlier than specializing in transferring ahead.
He stated Dennis was but to apologise to the Hoskins household.
“I’m sure that will come with time, I think it’s difficult for everybody,” Mr Hoskins stated.
He stated jailing Dennis would have had an influence on the couple’s two younger kids, and “wasn’t something that we were pursuing”.
“We’ve got to remember there’s two people caught up in this tragedy … who have lost their mum,”
he stated.
“For them to then go and lose their dad … I don’t think that would be ideal at all.
“Their well being and wellbeing is extra vital than a interval of incarceration.”
Police and Melissa Hoskins’s household arrive at court docket for Rohan Dennis’s sentence listening to. (ABC Information: Marco Catalano)
Members of Ms Hoskins’s family have previously spoken of their devastation at losing the mother-of-two, describing her death as “unfair and tragic” and telling the court that Dennis’s temper was his “downfall” and that it needed “to be addressed”.
The offence to which Dennis pleaded guilty carried a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment and a five-year loss of licence.
But the prosecution and defence had previously agreed a suspended sentence would be appropriate in this case.
Editor’s note (14/5/2025): An earlier version of this story stated that Rohan Dennis had been given a two-year suspended sentence. He was handed a 17-month suspended sentence, with a good behaviour bond of two years.
Look again at how the proceedings unfolded.
That ends the live coverage of this morning’s sentencing of Rohan Dennis over the incident which caused the death of his wife Melissa Hoskins.
The important thing outcomes from this morning’s court docket proceedings are as follows:
- Dennis’s sentence was suspended in favour of a two-year good-behaviour bond, meaning he will not serve time in jail, and he has been banned from driving for five years.
- Choose Ian Press stated Dennis had “demonstrated disregard” for his wife’s safety, but that he had not been charged “with being criminally answerable for the entire occasions” surrounding her death.
- Ms Hoskins’s father Peter said his family had not wanted Dennis to go to jail, but added that he had not apologised to them.
- Mr Hoskins and wife Amanda made emotional comments outside court, including that they “miss Melissa terribly” and that they now need to transfer on.
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