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.

> Rohan Dennis handed suspended sentence and disqualified from driving for five years after causing wife Melissa Hoskins’ death

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”.

Rohan Dennis Instagram screenshot
Rohan Dennis Instagram screenshot (Image Credit: @rohandennis/Instagram)

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 😂”

Rohan Dennis Instagram story screenshot
Rohan Dennis Instagram story screenshot (Image Credit: @rohandennis/Instagram)

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.

Rohan and Melissa Dennis (UCI World Championships 2019)
Rohan and Melissa Dennis, UCI World Championships 2019 (Image Credit: SWpix.com/Simon Wilkinson)

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.