Army sergeant ‘unemotional’ after hearing why wife fell 4,000ft

An Army sergeant was “unemotional” and “bewildered” when he was told how his wife’s parachute had failed causing her to fall 4,000ft, a court heard yesterday.

Emile Cilliers, 37, is accused of attempting to murder his estranged wife Victoria Cilliers on two different occasions.

First by causing a gas leak in their marital home and secondly by removing vital pieces from her parachute rig before she went skydiving on April 5th 2015.

Winchester Crown Court heard from expert witness Mark Bayada, the chief instructor at Netheravon airfield in Wiltshire where the incident took place.

Mr Bayada told the court that Mr Cilliers seemed “unemotional” and “bewildered” at the debrief a day after the incident.

The equipment missing from Mrs Cilliers parachute are called “slinks”, they attach the harness to the lines which go up to the parachute canopy itself.

On the rig she was using, two of the four slinks were gone which made her main and reserve parachute ineffective.

The British Parachute Association said that in the countless number of jumps which have taken place in the UK there has never been a recorded case of both parachutes failing.

Victoria Cilliers fell 4,000ft with minimal help from her parachutes; Michael Bowes QC, prosecuting, suggested that the fact she landed in a freshly ploughed field and her ‘small frame’ was what saved her life although her pelvis and many ribs were broken, she also suffered fractures to her spine.

The court heard that at the time of the incident Mr Cilliers was more than £20,000 in debt and he believed he would receive £120,000 from his wife’s life insurance policy.

Text messages read out by Michael Bowes QC, prosecuting, showed Mr Cilliers was romantically involved with two women.

Mr Cilliers denies the charges. The case is expected to last another four weeks.