Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
My evil dad achieved one good thing... his children. I’d really love to meet my half siblings
Daughter’s wish as death plot father jailed
but he never came back. It was the last time we saw him for almost 10 years.”
As she got older, Cilene tried contacting her father through social media but she was ignored.
Then, three years ago, Cilliers’ mother Zaan got in touch to say she wanted to meet Cilene and Trevor and would bring their father along too.
By then, Nicolene was married with three more children, and Cilene and Trevor lived with their gran in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
Cilliers, an Army sergeant, had wed a second time and had two children with Victoria.
In March 2015, the same month he made his first attempt on Victoria’s life, Cilliers was reunited with his eldest two children in a Travelodge.
Cilene says: “The night before, I barely slept. I had this picture of Dad in my head and I couldn’t wait to see if, all these years later, it was right.
“We heard a knock at the door and there he was, just as I’d remembered him. We both froze. I didn’t know whether to hug him or shake his hand.
“Then he put his arms out for a hug. I expected him to properly embrace me but it felt really weak and awkward. After a couple of seconds, he let go. I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.”
Emile took Cilene and Trevor to a coffee shop. Cilene says: “I asked Dad where he’d been and what he’d been doing all this time, but he was really cold and indifferent. It was like he was just doing his duty in meeting us.
“He was focused on Trevor and the whole thing left me feeling sidelined.
“I think I reminded him of my mum, and it made him remember how badly he had treated her. Meeting Dad again turned out to be a huge disappointment. I had harboured an image of a dad who loved me, but he managed to shatter that in just a few hours.”
What Cilene did not know then was that her father’s life was a mess and he was plotting to kill Victoria and pocket £120,000 life insurance.
On March 30, he tampered with a gas pipe at their home in Wiltshire. When that failed, he booked a jump for experienced parachutist Victoria on April 5, rigging her chute so that it failed to open when she leapt from 4,000ft.
But, incredibly, she survived, landing in a soft, freshly ploughed field. A month later, when Victoria was still in hospital recovering from a fractured spine, pelvis and broken ribs, police arrested Cilliers, 38.
Cilene, now living in Desborough, Northants, says: “I had no idea why Dad had been arrested. He kept in touch and promised to visit for my 16th birthday. I called off a big party and waited in all day. Of course, he never showed up.
“Weeks later, a social worker came and told me everything.
“I remember thinking, ‘What sort of person does something like that?’ I was shocked but in a weird way I wasn’t surprised. We never even knew he’d
DEATH PLOTTER’S DAUGHTER
got married again, let alone had more children. Victoria heard about me and Trevor for the first time during the court case. Dad was on trial, I was heavily pregnant with his first grandchild, and it was like we didn’t exist. It was heartbreak after heartbreak.”
A jury at Winchester crown court found Cilliers guilty on two counts of attempted murder. He got life, with a minimum of 18 years, on June 15.
Cilene, says: “I really wanted him to be found guilty. But it was still a shock, and a strange mix of emotions. For the first time, he is paying the price for his actions, but six children are growing up without their dad, and Eliana will never get to know her grandad.
“It would be nice for us all to know we’ve got each other, and that not everything Dad did was negative.”