Parachute accused ‘texted lover as wife lay in hospital’
AN Army sergeant accused of trying to kill his Scots wife by sabotaging her parachute was texting his lover while his spouse fought for life in hospital, a court heard yesterday.
Emile Cilliers, 38, sent messages throughout the night despite wife Victoria, 42, almost dying after she fell almost 4,000ft to the ground.
She suffered spinal injuries and a broken leg, pelvis and ribs, and spent three weeks in hospital.
Prosecutor Michael Bowes, QC, told a court Cilliers was more interested in keeping going a lie to his lover, Stefanie Goller, that he was no longer living with his wife than in his spouse’s welfare.
Cilliers allegedly plotted to kill his wife, originally from Haddington, East Lothian, to claim her £120,000 life insurance.
He is said to have had debts of around £22,000 – and had been in contact with prostitutes.
He is accused of removing links from his wife’s main and reserve parachutes before a jump over Salisbury Plain on April 5, 2015.
Mrs Cilliers, a skydive instructor and Army physiotherapist, was taken to Southampton General Hospital after the chute failed and she plummeted to the ground. A month earlier, Cilliers allegedly damaged a gas fitting at the couple’s home in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in a bid to kill her in an explosion.
Yesterday, Winchester Crown Court heard Cilliers, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, went with his wife to hospital but was busy texting his lover.
It was also alleged Cilliers had sabotaged the chute the day before the jump, taking it into a
‘Cared nothing for her welfare’
toilet with him at Netheravon Airfield and removing the links while his wife chatted to friends.
Mr Bowes said: ‘Why did he need to take the parachute rig in with him? It was club kit and most obviously he could have left it outside or possibly with Vicky.
‘You simply do not need to take a parachute rig to the toilet.’
The chute was then stored Mrs Cilliers’s locker. Mr Bowes said: ‘It was club kit so could have been returned and taken out again. But [he] couldn’t risk returning it for the damage to be found.
‘The following day Vicky came back to Netheravon on her own and it was apparent by now the defendant cared nothing for Vicky. He treated her with contempt, he had relationships with others, he cared nothing for her welfare.’
The court heard Cilliers and his wife exchanged messages before her jump – she had considered going home but Cilliers encouraged her to stay and skydive.
After her fall, he accompanied her to the hospital but was busy texting his lover, Mr Bowes said.
He added: ‘[He] sent a message to Stefanie Goller saying, “Sorry, can’t talk right now, Vicky had an accident”. He sends a message from the hospital saying, “I cannot imagine anything like this happening to you”.’
The prosecutor also said Cilliers texted his lover claiming he had to break into the marital home, which he had lied about leaving.
Mr Bowes said: ‘Even now, after his wife almost died, he can remember to lie.’
Cilliers, of Aldershot, Hampshire, denies two counts of attempted murder and one of damaging property being reckless as to the endangerment of life.
He stood trial last year but the jury could not reach verdicts.
The retrial continues.