An Army physiotherapist was ‘violently thrown around’ as she spiralled to the ground after her reserve parachute failed, the attempted murder trial of her husband has heard.
Emile Cilliers, of Royal Army Physical Training Corps, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court over two charges of attempting to murder his former Army officer wife, Victoria Cilliers, on Easter Sunday two years ago (April 5 2015).
The 37-year-old is also accused of a third charge of damaging a gas valve at their home a few days earlier in the second allegation that he attempted to kill his 40-year-old wife. He denies all three charges.
Cilliers, of the Royal Physical Training Corps who is currently living in Aldershot barracks, Hants, denies two charges of attempted murder and criminal damage reckless as to endanger life
The prosecution allege that the defendant tampered with his wife’s parachute on the day before her jump with the Army Parachute Association (APA) at Netheravon, Wiltshire.
Justin ‘Kenny’ Everett, a former member of the Royal Artillery parachute display team known as the Black Knights, said he was working as the drop zone controller at the time of the fall.
He said that he spoke to Mrs Cilliers briefly before the jump and said: ‘She seemed normal, didn’t seem any different to normal.’
Describing Mrs Cilliers’ jump, he said: ‘Straight away I could see the reserve was not working correctly.
Inspection of Victoria Cilliers parachute following the incident
Jurors and defence barrister Elizabeth Marsh QC, left, also inspected a similar main parachute and Mrs Cilliers’ locker, where the parachutes were kept before the jump
‘The reserve parachute was spiralling with only one side attached and the person underneath the parachute was being violently thrown around.’
He said she was descending faster than she should have been and added: ‘I dialled 999 straight away, I knew there would be a serious injury so I tried to get an air ambulance on scene as quickly as possible.’
He said that Mrs Cilliers was ‘very experienced, more experienced than myself in the qualifications she’s got’.
Brian Gardner, a fellow APA parachutist, told the court how he saw Mrs Cilliers falling to the ground after her reserve parachute failed.
He said: ‘I landed normally and then I kind of heard a scream, I looked up, that’s when I saw a parachute. It took me a while to see that it was a reserve that was malfunctioning.
Trial judge Mr Justice Sweeney, right, and prosecution barrister Michael Bowes, QC, left, are pictured inspecting a 149 reserve parachute similar to the one used by Mrs Cilliers
The site near to Netheravon Airfield in Wiltshire where Victoria Cilliers landed
‘The parachutist started spiralling faster and faster, she started off going slowly and getting faster. She went down behind the hangars and trees.’
Mr Gardner told the court that prior to the jump, he had carried out a flight line check of her equipment to ensure it was all present.
The prosecution allege that Cilliers twisted the lines of the main parachute and removed two of the four slinks – a nylon soft link connector between the lines and the harness – from the reserve.
George Panagopoulos, a chief rigger at the APA, said that Cilliers, who was already a qualified main parachute packer, had attended an advanced reserve packing course in October 2012 and had gained ‘100%’ knowledge of how to assemble and pack a reserve parachute.
The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.
Cilliers is said to have started an affair with Stefanie Goller (above) after meeting her on Tinder and allegedly tried to kill his wife for £120,000 insurance money
Jurors were given a tour of the men’s toilets at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire, where the alleged tampering took place on Easter Sunday, 2015
Mark Bayada, chief instructor at Netheravon Airfield where the incident occurred, told Winchester Crown Court he ‘did not think’ Cilliers would have had room to tamper with the parachute in a toilet cubicle where it allegedly took place
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