"Your temper is your downfall and needs to be addressed" - Melissa Hoskins' family shares victim impact statement in trial of Rohan Dennis

The cycling world was rocked in December 2023 by the tragic passing of Australian star Melissa Hoskins. With her husband, former world time-trial champion Rohan Dennis currently in the docks after pleading guilty to an aggravated charge of creating a likelihood of harm, the family of Hoskins has shared an emotional victim impact statement.

"She didn't deserve this for all the good she did. She always put her family first. Her death is so unfair and tragic," Amanda Hoskins, Melissa's mother, said directly to the former INEOS and Visma star Dennis in court, according to a report by Aussie broadcaster ABC. "Melissa was the best thing that ever happened to you. Rohan, you loved Melissa, and I know that you would never intentionally hurt her. Your temper is your downfall and needs to be addressed."

Peter Hoskins, father of the late Melissa, recalled his last contact with his daughter - a video call in which an excited Hoskins looked forward to the upcoming New Year celebrations. "She could hardly contain her joy at the prospect of hosting her first New Year's Eve party," he remembered. "The next time I saw Melissa was in the mortuary viewing room at the Royal Adelaide Hospital … that, I will never forget. It will haunt me forever."

With the trial of Dennis still ongoing, the maximum charge in Australia for an aggravated charge of creating a likelihood of harm is seven years imprisonment plus a five-year loss of driver's licence for the perpetrator. It is argued by Dennis' defence that whilst he did ultimately cause the death of his wife, he did not do so intentionally, with Prosecutor Tali Costi telling the court earlier this week that while Dennis was not criminally responsible for Hoskins' death, he either did not know or was "reckless to the fact she was holding onto the vehicle."