An Olympic cyclist tragically died after having a blowout argument with her husband — but he’s managed to avoid any serious punishment.
Rohan Dennis, who you may know as the silver medalist for cycling from the 2012 London Olympics or the 2015 Tour de France‘s opening time trial winner, was caught up in a legal dispute after the death of his wife, Melissa Hoskins, who was also an Olympic cyclist. She was tragically killed during an argument with Dennis back in 2023.
At the time, Dennis and Hoskins were in the midst of an altercation over a kitchen renovation when law officials say she jumped on the bonnet of his car. Court docs allege he continued to drive for about 75 meters (or about 250 feet) at a speed of 12 mph with her clinging on. He stopped at an intersection, which is when Hoskins tried to reach for the driver door handle, but he continued driving. From there, she fell and he ran her over — causing injuries that would eventually lead to her death at age 32. Horrific…
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The Australian athlete was arrested after the incident and initially charged with dangerous driving, driving without due care, and endangering life. In December, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of creating a likelihood of harm. He was back in court on Wednesday and finally received his — quite frankly, shocking — sentencing!
At his hearing on Wednesday, per The US Sun, Judge Ian Press said it was “unbeknownst” to Dennis that Hoskins had held on to the car:
“What happened next does not form the basis of the charge as the prosecution accept that, unbeknownst to you, your wife held onto the car as you accelerated down the street. It was then that she fell and lost her life.”
The judge stressed that the death itself wasn’t Dennis’ fault, but his actions leading up to her death were. Because of this, he landed a sentence of 17 months. But the judge decided to give him a suspended sentence — all he’s going to have to do regarding this tragedy is enter a two-year good behavior bond and have his license suspended for five years.
Yes, seriously! He completely avoided any time behind bars. Wow…
Explaining his reasoning further, the judge told Rohan, according to the AP:
“Given your plea of guilty, your remorse, that you are the sole carer for your young children, and given all your other personal circumstances and the circumstances of the offending, I am satisfied that good reason exists to suspend that sentence.”
As surprising as this may seem, this is what Melissa’s parents wanted, too. Hoskins’ mom and dad — Amanda and Peter Hoskins — wanted to avoid any jail time for Dennis for the sake of the couple’s children. They said per Fox Sports Australia:
“It’s now time for us to move on, which would be Melissa’s expectations of us. Clearly we want to continue to be an integral part of their children’s lives and their future. How we do this in a meaningful way and relevant way will take time.”
In fact, they’re hoping to maintain a friendly relationship with Dennis:
“With respect to Rohan, as hard as it is going to be, it is important that we also have a well-mannered relationship with him. [Our grandchildren] deserve this, they have done nothing wrong. We would like to thank everybody for their support of us.”
They noted that since the beginning of the trial, they were more focused on the wellbeing of their grandchildren, and never pursued jail time for Dennis:
“We’ve got to remember there are two people caught up in this tragedy, and there are young children caught up in this tragedy, who have lost their mum. For them to go and lose their dad, albeit a temporary loss, I don’t think that would be ideal at all. From the outset, it wasn’t something that we were pursuing. The health and wellbeing of [our grandchildren] have been front of mind for us right from the word go. That remains the case.”
Wow. What a complicated and heartbreaking dynamic for them moving forward.
Thoughts on this, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via Melissa Hoskins/Instagram & ATP/WENN]
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