Parachute fall wife: My husband never even said ‘I love you’
THE wife of an Army sergeant accused of trying to murder her by tampering with her parachute has said her husband rarely visited her in hospital and never said: ‘I love you.’
In a police interview shown to jurors yesterday, Victoria Cilliers, 42, described her ‘nonstop crying’ and the ‘lonely’ days that followed her nearfatal fall on April 5, 2015.
The Army physiotherapist, originally from Haddington in East Lothian, said her husband Emile, 37, never brought cards or presents and appeared not to want her to return home.
Cilliers, an Army physical trainer, is accused of trying to kill his wife by removing vital parts from her harness before a 4,000ft skydive in a bid to start a new life with his secret girlfriend, Stefanie Goller.
In a police interview after the fall at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire, Mrs Cilliers said she had suspicions her husband was cheating.
She said their relationship began to deteriorate in November 2014 and her husband seemed ‘uninterested’ as she recovered in hospital from a broken pelvis, broken ribs and a fractured vertebra.
Winchester Crown Court heard Mrs Cilliers regained consciousness in A&E following the fall. She said: ‘Emile was there and I remember saying, “I love you,” and he did not reply, which is harsh in that situation, really f ****** harsh.
‘People deal with situations in different ways but he did not come to see me that often when I was in the ward, which I struggled with. It’s lonely in hospital with those sorts of injuries.
‘Friends came in and doctors came in more than he did. When he did come in, he did not seem that interested. He never got me cards or presents.’
Mrs Cilliers said she ‘progressed quickly’ and was fit to go home after two weeks but was unable to as her husband was working. ‘I know work is important but I had nearly been killed and I wanted to go home,’ she added.
‘I had to wait at the hospital until he was ready to come and get me. I got the impression he did not want me home.
‘Yes, he had a lot on, but still it would be nice if at any point while I was in hospital for him to say, “Well done, I’m proud of you, I love you, you’re doing a good job”.
‘I came home and just cried. There was no welcome.
‘That day and night I cried, nonstop crying. It was bad enough in that situation, realising that I could not look after my family then feeling I was not wanted at home.’
Cilliers, who now lives in Aldershot Barracks, Hampshire, is also accused of trying to murder his wife days before the parachute plunge by tampering with a gas valve in the family home in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in a bid to cause an explosion.
He denies two counts of attempted murder and criminal damage so as to recklessly endanger life.
The case continues.