{"id":550140,"date":"2026-03-19T08:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550140\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:09:14","slug":"rohan-dennis-olympic-cyclists-shock-absolute-weapon-car-post-insensitive-to-how-wife-melissa-hoskins-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550140\/","title":{"rendered":"Rohan Dennis: Olympic cyclist\u2019s shock \u2018absolute weapon\u2019 car post insensitive to how wife Melissa Hoskins died"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Former world champion cyclist Rohan Dennis has sparked backlash after breaking his silence with a controversial social media post insensitive to the death of his wife.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Perth-born Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins died after being hit by a car Dennis was driving outside their Adelaide home during a heated argument on December 30, 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Dennis walked free from court in May 2025 after pleading guilty to an aggravated charge of creating likelihood of harm, with a judge ruling he was not criminally responsible for her death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">In his first public posts since the tragedy, the 35-year-old shared images of a black Porsche 911 on Instagram, describing the car as an \u201cabsolute weapon\u201d \u2014 a phrase that has drawn fierce criticism.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/d420128b0c1c027828de4e080cc9db849ac14749.jpg\" alt=\"The post Rohan Dennis made with the Porsche.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconThe post Rohan Dennis made with the Porsche. Credit: InstagramWA&#8217;s biggest courts and crime stories to your inbox<\/p>\n<p>Sign-up to our weekly newsletter for free<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"css-k3bdon-StyledButton eugwi9o0\" href=\"https:\/\/cloud.mail.wanews.com.au\/thewest_newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sign up<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">One person wrote: \u201cCompletely tone deaf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cHis second post back on social media after his wife\u2019s death. No public statements or acknowledgement of his deceased wife.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Another said: \u201cWhat a disgusting thing to say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/21964c73a546a48ba5e8a2edb7868bd46b30bd3a.jpg\" alt=\"Rohan Dennis' post.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconRohan Dennis&#8217; post. Credit: Instagram<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The post, made on Wednesday night, was also condemned by Victims\u2019 Rights Commissioner Sarah Quick, who said the language showed a \u201cprofound lack of respect\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThis is a deeply offensive comment that demonstrates a clear lack of insight into the real and lasting impact of the harm he has caused,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">During his trial, the court was told that the couple had argued over kitchen renovations before Dennis drove off along a laneway beside their home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Ms Hoskins climbed onto the bonnet of the car before falling and being run over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The 32-year-old had critical injuries and died in Royal Adelaide Hospital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The Olympic cyclist was laid to rest in Fremantle in January 2024, with sunflowers \u2014 her favourite bloom \u2014 placed on her coffin.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/37bf1a2b2670f2bb89aa5e3cfbf32c88a7e3d201.jpg\" alt=\"Melissa Hoskins and Rohan Dennis.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconMelissa Hoskins and Rohan Dennis. Credit: TheWest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former world champion cyclist Rohan Dennis has sparked backlash after breaking his silence with a controversial social media&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,48,784,44,85,45],"class_list":["post-550140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-crime","tag-cycling","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}