He’s innocent says mother of suspect in skydive plot
Soldier is held after wife’s plunge
THE mother of an Army sergeant suspected of trying to kill his skydiver wife with a faulty parachute has said there is ‘no truth’ in the allegations against her son.
South African-born Emile Cilliers, 35, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder last week after his wife Victoria plummeted to the ground at 100mph during a 4,000ft jump.
It is thought the 39-year-old survived only because her parachutes opened just enough to slow her descent and she landed on a freshly ploughed field, softening her fall.
But the mother of two still suffered broken ribs, a broken collar bone, a broken leg and spinal injuries.
The suspect’s mother Zaan Cilliers was yesterday due to fly to Britain to be with her son and help look after the couple’s two children.
Speaking from the airport, Mrs Cilliers said she knew he was not capable of such a crime.
She said: ‘I believe in my son, I love him, he is our child and we know him.
‘I don’t feel affected by these allegations as I know him and know there is no truth in it. That’s all I can tell you. My lawyer said we can say nothing about this.’
Yesterday it emerged that Victoria Cilliers had given birth to the couple’s son Ethan just five weeks before the jump at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire, on Easter Sunday.
The couple live in Amesbury, close to Bulford barracks and the Ministry of Defence-owned airfield.
It is understood Cilliers, an instructor with the Royal Army Physical Training Corps attached to the Royal Marines, had not been living at the home recently after moving out with their two children.
Last week Mrs Cilliers, who spent three weeks in hospital, was seen at the family home wearing a body brace and moving around on crutches.
South African media yesterday reported that keen cricketer and skier Cilliers was from the farming and mining community of Ermelo in the Mpumalanga province in the east of the country.
He married qualified parachute instructor Victoria in 2011 in South Africa after splitting from former wife Carly who still lives in Amesbury.
His parents now live around 1,000 miles away from his hometown in the small holiday seaside spot of Betty’s Bay in the Western Cape, 19 miles from Cape Town. It is popular with tourists and is known for being home to a penguin colony.
Locals said the couple are popular and well regarded. Cilliers’ father Stolz is said to work as an engineer overseeing road construction projects, while his mother runs the town’s PenguinKids pre-school for around 40 children from low-income families.
Staff at the nursery school yesterday said she was going to the UK to ‘see her son and grandkids’.
They said they were aware her daughter-in-law had had an accident but did not seem to know her son was implicated in it. They also said the plan for the month-long visit had been in place for at least two weeks.
The Cilliers’ son was released on police bail after being questioned last week.
The MoD did not respond yesterday when asked if he had been suspended from the Army. Wiltshire Police also declined to comment.