Parachute accused ‘had two affairs’

THE RETRIAL of an Army sergeant accused of attempting to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute has heard that he was having two affairs as well as “contact with a number of prostitutes” at the time of her “near-fatal fall”.

Emile Cilliers, 38, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, who is on trial at Winchester Crown Court, faces two charges of attempted murder and a third count of damaging a gas fitting recklessly endangering life.

The serving soldier with the Royal Army Physical Training Corps is accused of sabotaging his wife’s main and reserve parachute and a few days earlier tampering with a gas valve at the family home in Amesbury, Wiltshire.

Victoria Cilliers suffered serious injuries when her main and reserve parachutes failed during a jump at the Army Parachute Association in Netheravon, Wiltshire, on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015.

Mr Justice Sweeney told the jury of nine men and three women that the case was a retrial, adding: “The fact the previous jury was unable to reach verdicts is wholly irrelevant to your decisions.”

Michael Bowes QC, prosecuting, told the court that Cilliers held his wife “in contempt” and wanted to “get rid of her permanently”.

He explained that at the time he was carrying out an affair with a woman called Stefanie Goller as well as having a “sexual relationship” with his ex-wife Carly Cilliers and had “contact with a number of prostitutes”.

He was also £22,000 in debt and believed he was set to receive a £120,000 insurance payout in the event of his wife’s accidental death, Mr Bowes said.

Mr Bowes explained that Victoria Cilliers survived the fall after her main and reserve parachutes failed. Vital components were missing, prompting the allegation that they had been sabotaged.

Mr Bowes said a week previously Cilliers had “deliberately caused a gas leak” at his family home while he was staying elsewhere in an earlier failed bid to murder his wife.

Cilliers denies the charges and the trial continues.