Retrial in parachute sabotage case after jury ‘bullying’ row
THE husband accused of trying to kill his wife by tampering with her parachute was told yesterday he faces a retrial.
A jury failed to reach verdicts on Emile Cilliers, 37, who denies two charges of attempting to murder his wife Victoria, 42, and a third count of damaging a gas fitting.
It is alleged the Army sergeant wanted to claim his wife’s £120,000 life insurance and start a new life with the lover he met on dating app Tinder.
The jury, depleted from 12 to 10 by “stress-related illness”, sent a note to the judge at Winchester Crown Court saying they were unable to reach verdicts.
Hours earlier, jurors “publicly defended” themselves by denying there had been bullying in their deliberating room.
Mr Justice Sweeney discharged the forewoman and another female juror on Wednesday after they fell ill. He told the remaining jurors that their deliberations “must remain within the proper bounds of discussion and not amount to improper pressure or bullying”.
In response the 10 jurors, who began their deliberations on November 14, produced a note stating: “Following yesterday’s further direction, the jury returned to the deliberation room to read and discuss the direction as discussed. The jury unanimously agreed no such bullying had taken place. We then proceeded to further deliberations in the time remaining.
“After our dismissal for the day, a number of jurors were contacted by friends and family who became aware of press reporting implicating bullying.
“Collectively we feel we have had no opportunity to defend ourselves and our integrity which has further implications on us personally and professionally.”
Mr Justice Sweeney responded by saying that his comments had not “suggested any bullying had been going on” but had been intended “to flush it out if it had”.
He added: “You must now put this episode completely behind you and when continuing your deliberations you must do so by way of a careful, dispassionate consideration of the evidence.”
But the jury soon returned to say a verdict could not be reached. Mr Justice Sweeney thanked them for their hard work after they had deliberated for about 30 hours.
Cilliers, wearing a grey threepiece suit, put his head down and looked at the floor as the decision to discharge the jury was announced.
The serving soldier with the Royal Army Physical Training Corps is accused of sabotaging his wife’s main and reserve parachutes and a few days earlier tampering with a gas valve at the family home in Amesbury, Wiltshire.
Victoria Cilliers, a parachuting instructor, suffered near-fatal injuries when her chutes failed during a jump on Salisbury Plain on Easter Sunday, 2015.
South African-born Cilliers was freed on conditional bail until the retrial on a date to be fixed. The judge told him: “If you were to breach any of those conditions you are liable to find yourself arrested.”