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The Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis has not shown remorse and “perceives himself as a victim” even though his wife accidentally kills, his family told a court.
Melissa Hoskins, 32, died when she was hit by a car driven by her husband in December 2023.
During the sentence presentations in the SA District Court today, the Hoskins family delivered victims’ impact statements while Dennis sat on the dock.
Amanda Hoskins said her daughter had loved Dennis “and I know you would never hurt her intentionally.”
“I think this is a tragic accident. Your temperament is your fall and must be addressed,” he said.
Hoskins’ sister Jessica Locke said she still had nightmares about the police who comes home on December 31, 2023 to inform her about the tragedy.
“Neither I, my family or friends we have received any kind of apology from Rohan for his actions that night,” Locke said.
“No remorse has been shown. In any case, Rohan’s actions since that night seem to suggest that he perceives himself as a victim of the situation.
“Seeing him behave like this overwhelms me with sadness and anger.
“The lack of empathy and understanding of their actions … I have really fought to process.”
She had been “cut from my niece and nephew, and my children of her cousins.”
Father Peter Hoskins said the family did not say goodbye to Melissa, who had just lived again in Australia after living in Spain.
In a video call on December 30, “he could barely contain his joy for the perspective of organizing his first New Year’s Eve party,” he said.
“The next time I saw Melissa was in Mortuary’s visualization room at the Royal Adelaide Hospital … that I will never forget. He will persecute me forever,” he said.
“Our greatest fear is losing access to (our grandchildren, now six and four years old).”
They were “silent afflicted” who were too young to realize the present and future impact of the loss of their mother in their lives.
Going to Dennis, he said: “Can I forgive you for the abandonment of your responsibilities as a husband and father? I doubt that I can do that still given what you have removed my family.”
Prosecutor Tali Costi told the court that, although Dennis was not criminally responsible for Melissa’s death, he was “reckless of the fact that she was clinging to the vehicle.”
Lawyer Jane Abbey KC said her client appeared as a “very stoic man.”
“He says that is important for his children,” he said.
“When the public is not looking … it is not at all stoic. It is experiencing a deep and deep pain.”
Before the incident, the couple had been involved in a dispute over kitchen cabinets, “the type of things that husbands and wives do not agree all the time.”
“His honor, from looking at the CCTV, could see that there is a period of less than three seconds in which many things is happening,” said Abbey.
“He describes the police listening to a noise, that noise that would seem to jump to the car … and one can see that shortly after that noise, and allowing a response time, the brake lights are shown.”
He asked that his client received a suspended sentence, to which the Prosecutor’s Office did not oppose.
Hoskins competed in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games on the track in the search for the team, and was in the team that won the 2015 world title at the event.
During his competitive career, Dennis won two world titles in the road counter, as well as silver in the search for the team at the 2012 Olympic Bronze and Bronze Bronze in the counterreloj on the road at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Judge Ian Press will sentence Dennis on May 14.
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