Rohan Dennis has been criticised for describing a car on Instagram as “an absolute weapon” ten months after he received a two-year suspended sentence for his role in the death of his wife, former professional cyclist Melissa Hoskins.
Hoskins, 32, died on New Year’s Eve when she was hit by a car driven by Dennis after he attempted to leave their shared home during an argument in Adelaide. A judge found Dennis was not criminally responsible for her death but he pleaded guilty to an aggravated count of creating the likelihood of harm. He was given a suspended prison sentence.
Dennis had not posted on Instagram since Hoskins’ death but returned on Tuesday by posting a close-up photo of a bike frame. He followed that up today with two photos of a black Porsche, during and after its cleaning. The post was captioned, “What an absolute weapon”.

The post, which was set to the song “Fancy $hit”, has received more than 2,000 likes, including from several past and present professional cyclists including Bradley Wiggins, Oscar Onley, Sam Bennett, Richie Porte and Toms Skujins. Other social media users have however criticised Dennis for the tone and choice of language in his caption.
Writer Anna MacEwen wrote on Bluesky “My naive arse thought if you killed the wife and mother of your children you should go to prison, not be free to post on Insta that the new car you have is “an absolute weapon”.” Dennis was not charged with causing Hoskins’ death.
Velora News co-founder Peter Stuart wrote that “Rohan Dennis describing a new car as an ‘absolute weapon’ feels fairly wrong to me.”
Other social media users wondered if the Porsche could even belong to Dennis due to the Australian receiving a five-year driving ban when he was sentenced last May.
Following the post, Dennis was contacted by Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser who asked for comment in relation to his social media post. Dennis subsequently uploaded a screenshot of the voicemail transcript with the caption “Didn’t take these rats long 😂”

Melissa Hoskins was a track cycling world champion in the team pursuit and rode for the Australian Orica team until 2015. She announced her retirement from professional cycling in May 2017, the same time she announced her engagement to Rohan Dennis, a time trial specialist who became a two-time world champion. The couple had two children and were married in 2018. Following Dennis’ retirement from cycling at the end of 2023, the family lived in Adelaide, where Dennis grew up.

In court, Hoskins’ mother said Dennis’ temper “was his downfall” and “needs to be addressed” though adding that she never believed Dennis would have intentionally harmed her daughter. Outside court, Hoskins’ parents said they “want to continue to be an integral part of [the] children’s lives and their future” nothing that “there are two young children caught up in this tragedy.”
It is not the first time Dennis’ social media profile has courted controversy. In April 2020 he deleted his Instagram page after writing “#covid19 can suck my ass and so can #quarantine” during the coronavirus pandemic.

7 thoughts on “Rohan Dennis criticised for Instagram post describing his car as “a weapon”, less than a year after receiving suspended sentence over driving incident which killed wife Melissa Hoskins”
If I drove and as a result of doing so was involved in the death of another human being, let alone my own wife, I’m pretty sure I could never bring myself to drive again, let alone eulogise such a vulgar and wasteful example of the killing instrument using such language. What an absolute weapon, indeed.
Thanks for saying that in a much more civilised manner than I was contemplating.
I think you mean what an absolute tool.
No, “what a weapon” is common slang in British/Irish English for a fool or idiot, particularly but not exclusively in parts of Scotland and Ireland
(the etymology is from the fact that weapon used to mean not only something used on the battlefield but a gentleman’s genitalia, so it’s the equivalent of saying “what a prick”)
Apparently in Australia, calling someone a weapon or absolute weapon can be considered a compliment. Here in Glasgow it is very much not a compliment. Rohan Dennis appears to be an absolute weapon in the Glaswegian sense of the phrase.
I just really wonder and worry how insceure he must be to have sat silent for so long only to come out with a brag about a new material thing he has acquired.
No reflections on life, not even a silly life-is-good photo from holiday. No. A new commodity, and of the type that has caused so much trouble in his own life! I intentionally didn’t mention the tragedy he caused to another human being, as he doesn’t seem to care at all.
What a poor, broken, wicked bloke.