- Rohan Dennis is accused of killing his wife
- He’s alleged to struck her with his vehicle
Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis has pleaded guilty over a car crash that killed his wife Melissa Hoskins.
Dennis, 34, appeared at Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday, and entered a guilty plea to one aggravated count of creating likelihood of harm relating to the December 30, 2023 crash at the front of the couple’s Medindie home in Adelaide’s inner-north.
Prosecutors dropped a charge of dangerous driving causing death and an aggravated charge of driving without due care, ABC News reports.
Dennis was charged after 32-year-old Ms Hoskins was struck by his dark grey Volkswagon Amarok and rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital where she died.
The Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday heard prosecutors accepted the plea to the new charge because Dennis was reckless but did not intend to kill his wife.
The prosecution accepted that Dennis was not responsible for causing the death of Hoskins after 12 months of negotiations.
He admitted to driving a motor vehicle without lawful excuse when Ms Hoskins was in close proximity knowing the act was likely to cause harm and being recklessly indifferent to whether such harm was caused.
‘There was no intention of Mr Dennis to harm his wife and this charge does not charge him with responsibility for her death,’ his defence lawyer Jane Abbey said.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment and a five-year loss of licence.
Dennis has been committed to the district court for sentencing .
Hoskins competed at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics on the cycle track in the team pursuit and was in the squad that won the 2015 world title.
Dennis, during his competitive career, won two world titles in the road individual time trial, as well as silver in the team track pursuit at the 2012 Olympics and bronze in the road time trial at the Tokyo Olympics.
He became the seventh Australian to wear the yellow jersey as race leader at the Tour de France by winning the opening time trial in 2015 – setting a race record for his average speed. Dennis also won the 2015 Tour Down Under in South Australia.
Hoskins was laid to rest in her home city of Perth and a public memorial service was held in Adelaide in February. Dennis attended the service with their two children.
Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis outside Adelaide magistrates court
Rohan Dennis allegedly struck his wife, Melissa Hoskins, with his car
