World champion cyclist Rohan Dennis shared a family photo in front of a Christmas tree days before he allegedly ran down his Olympian wife in his ute.
Dennis, 33, was seen smiling from ear to ear in the photo shared on Instagram as he posed with his wife Melissa Hoskins, 32, and their two children.
‘Merry Christmas from our family to yours,’ he wrote in the caption.
Just four days later, on Saturday, police allege Dennis struck Melissa with his black ute on a street in the inner-northern Adelaide suburb of Medindie at 8pm.
Melissa was taken from the scene in an ambulance with serious injuries but died in hospital, with police then arresting and charging Dennis with causing her death.
Several social media posts have since resurfaced of Dennis gloating about his wife and their two children.
Four days before police allege Rohan Dennis (right) struck Melissa Dennis (left) with his black ute, the Olympic cyclist shared this photo and wrote ‘Merry Christmas from our family to yours’
Dennis posted this photo of his children sitting in his ute parked in Adelaide a year ago, saying how lucky he was and ‘sometimes I don’t appreciate everything I’ve got’
Just two weeks ago, Dennis posted an image of himself and his wife laughing in a car on the way to a wedding.
‘I finally did it, I finally made @melissmdennis lose the plot #lifegoalachieved,’ the caption read.
When a friend replied ‘it was only a matter of time’, Dennis responded with laughing emojis: ‘She was much harder to crack than I thought’.
Dennis was granted bail on the weekend after he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving without due care and endangering life.
The couple were both Olympic-level cyclists, with Dennis taking home a silver medal in 2012 and a bronze in 2020 while his wife missed out on a medal in 2012 by just 0.18 seconds.
The couple married in 2018 and have a five-year-old son and a younger daughter.
The fatal collision happened on a leafy tree-lined street in one of Adelaide’s wealthiest suburbs where the Dennis family is believed to own a house.
Neighbours reported seeing a black ute being towed from the street and police were filmed standing around a crime scene with a pile of clothing in the road.
Just a year ago, Dennis posted a photo of his two children sitting in the back of a black ute.
‘Some times I don’t appreciate everything I’ve already got. Then I see photos like this,’ the caption read.
Some social media users complimented him on his car, saying ‘nice pickup’.
Another said: ‘You’re doing it right brother, we all miss what’s right in front of us sometimes, but then you pull your head out of your a** and realise “I’m one lucky man” and life gets even better’.
Rohan Dennis posted this alongside the selfie of the smiling couple going to a wedding on December 15
Two weeks before she died, Melissa Dennis took this selfie of the couple laughing in a car on their way to a wedding, with Rohan joking that it had taken an effort to crack his wife up
Police at the crime scene on a street in the wealthy inner northern Adelaide suburb of Medindie where Olympian Melissa Dennis died after allegedly being struck by her husband’s ute
Both the couple’s Instagram pages show a young family travelling overseas, drinking wine with friends and enjoying time together, with Ms Dennis writing as her bio, ‘Wife and Mum. Lover of family, food, travel and wine’.
In the same month, Dennis posted a photo of the couple enjoying wine and cheese at a vineyard with the words, ‘the future is looking pretty bright’.
The family had spent the last few years dividing their time between Adelaide and Spain, where Rohan competed professionally with different European teams until announcing his retirement last year.
Six weeks ago he posted an image of himself in the pool with his two children at a hotel in Dubai, writing ‘some much needed decompression here #rollercoasterofemotions’.
A week later the couple posed in front of a pyramid in Egypt, with Rohan posting ‘Massive bucket list moment, definitely did not disappoint!’
The couple, above relaxing at a vineyard, divided their time between Adelaide and Spain, where Rohan Dennis competed professionally as a cyclist until his recent retirement
Melissa Dennis is loaded into an ambulance to be taken to hospital where she died shortly afterwards and her husband was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and endangering life
More recent photos show him relaxing with his young daughter in his living room with the Christmas tree, and outside with a barbecue in his neatly hedged back yard.
Medindie is known for its ‘old money’ real estate with colonial era houses on large plots of land, and has a median house price of $3million.
In her career as a cyclist, Melissa Hoskins was a member of ‘s track cycling pursuit team which finished fourth at the London Olympics, and won gold at the 2015 World Championship, breaking the event’s world record.
The same year Rohan set a record for the longest distance travelled in an hour and started the Tour de France in pole position after winning the stage one individual time trial, although he finished out of the top 100.
He was awarded the Sir Hubert Opperman medal and trophy for ‘s best all-round cyclist for 2015.
Rohan Dennis will face court in Adelaide on March 13.