Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Disgraced Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis made a last-minute attempt to sidestep journalists after being handed an unusual court victory.
Dennis appeared in South Australia’s District Court on Wednesday to learn the fate of a bid to switch judges for his upcoming sentence.
With the media pack waiting outside the court, Dennis attempted a side step of his own.
Exiting the building behind two other people, he pulled a quick shift in direction and quickly walked off the opposite way, leaving camera crews scrambling to catch up.
After gaining himself an approximate two-second headstart, Dennis refused to comment when caught up journalists.
The former Olympian is due to be sentenced for driving while disqualified and breaching the terms of the suspended sentence handed to him over the death of his wife and fellow Olympian, Melissa Hoskins.
Ms Hoskins died after being struck by a car driven by Dennis outside of their home in Adelaide.
In May last year, he was handed a suspended jail sentence of one year, four months and 28 days after pleading guilty to one count of committing an act likely to cause harm over the incident.
He was not held criminally responsible for her death.
But Dennis returned to court earlier this year after he was caught driving in Adelaide.
However, the legal process hit a snag after he was scheduled to be arraigned in front of the same judge who handed his sentence down for Ms Hoskins’ death.
Lawyers for Dennis lodged an application for Judge Ian Press to recuse himself from the case, arguing the judge may feel personally affronted by his warnings being ignored.
Judge Press rejected the notion that he would not be impartial, but did agree to recuse himself nonetheless.
The dispute centres around warnings he gave to Dennis when he signed his bond, when he said: “Even if it was only driving while disqualified, you could expect to be sent to prison for that offence alone.”
In June, Dennis did just this and has pleaded guilty in writing to this offence.
In his written reasons for recusal, Judge Press said he accepted that the wording of his warnings could be considered “close minded as to what should occur”.
“I accept that the informed lay observer might think that I might now feel some pressure or obligation, consciously or subconsciously, to imprison the defendant because that is what I told him would happen,” he wrote.
“On that basis, I accept that I must recuse himself.”
Dennis will next appear on November 13.
