SA soldier guilty of trying to kill wife by sabotaging parachute

A South African-born soldier was found guilty on Thursday of attempting to murder his wife by sabotaging her parachute.

British Army sergeant Emile Cilliers‚ 38‚ was convicted at Winchester Crown Court of two attempted murder charges and a third count of damaging a gas valve at the home he shared with his wife‚ Victoria.

The couple married in 2011 at the Twelve Apostles Hotel‚ in Cape Town‚ but four years later experienced skydiver Victoria was almost killed when her main and reserve parachutes failed during a 1‚200m jump.

The other attempted murder conviction related to an incident in which Cilliers caused a gas leak in the couple’s house to blow up his wife.

The prosecution argued that the father of six's motive was to claim a £120,000 (R2-million) life insurance payout that would clear his debts.

The jury also heard that Cilliers — whose parents Stoltz and Zaan live in Betty’s Bay‚ in the Western Cape — was involved in at least two extra-marital affairs‚ and was desperate to start a new life with his secret lover‚ Stefanie Goller. He was also accused of sleeping with his ex-wife‚ Carly Cilliers.

The judge‚ Mr Justice Sweeney‚ said before sentencing Cilliers he wanted probation officers to report on his “dangerousness” and to obtain a statement from Victoria about the impact the offences had on her.

Experts told the court it was a “miracle” she survived the fall‚ which left her with a broken pelvis‚ broken ribs and fractured vertebrae.

Cilliers grew up in South Africa and became a foreman at his father’s construction company‚ the BBC reported. When he moved to the UK in 2000 he left behind two young children‚ a boy and a girl‚ with their South African mother‚ Nicolene.

Victoria told Wiltshire police her husband barely visited her in hospital after she survived the fall and refused to say he loved her as she recovered from major surgery.

In a video interview shown to the jury‚ she said she believed her fall was not a mistake‚ and that the chance of both parachutes failing was “one in a million”.

The prosecution argued that Cilliers removed slinks connecting the harness to the parachutes’ lines.

She said in the interview: “It’s not really a conceivable accident; you can’t categorically say it was not an accident; you can’t categorically say it was‚ but never in the history of parachuting worldwide has it happened.

“Those slinks do not just disappear‚ even when wrongly assembled. I shouldn’t have survived that and that was a real shock which I was finding it pretty hard to deal with.”

She said the canopy of the main parachute twisted and she had to cut it away. “I can’t remember if I pulled the reserve or it deployed automatically. Either or‚ I could feel the reserve fly and again straight away I felt something wasn’t right and it was very twisted‚” she said.

“The last thing I remember is trying to get some kind of control over it‚ trying to open as many cells as I could‚ then everything went black‚ I do not know if it was the G-force or the impact but everything cut out.”

After the incident‚ police searched the Cilliers’ family home and found a gas valve had been tampered with. The court was told that when Victoria discovered the leak‚ she sent her husband a WhatsApp message asking him if he was “trying to kill her”.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2015‚ Zaan Cilliers said there was “no truth” to allegations that her son tried to kill Victoria.

“I believe in my son‚ I love him‚ he is our child and we know him‚” she said.

“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.”

Cilliers was an instructor with the Royal Army Physical Training Corps attached to the Royal Marines. South African media reported that he was from Ermelo in Mpumalanga.

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