Photo: bruev (Getty)
Emile Cilliers, a 37-year-old Army sergeant, tried to kill his wife by messing with vital parts of her parachute before she went skydiving, causing her to spin thousands of feet to the ground. Why? Because he wanted to be with a woman he met on Tinder. Cilliers, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, is now charged with the attempted murder of Victoria Cilliers. And luckily for Victoria, she made it out of the ordeal as she suffered multiple serious injuries, but didn’t die.
Emile Cilliers, who denies all charges, wanted to leave his wife for a lover he had met on Tinder, prosecutors said https://t.co/9mn4QISr2v
— BBC Radio Solent (@BBCRadioSolent) October 4, 2017
There’s more. Cilliers is also accused of damaging a gas valve at their home a few days earlier, all in the name of trying desperately to kill his wife. It also seems that Cilliers lied to his Tinder lover and told her he was leaving his wife because he was not the father of one of his children.
He added that the defendant, who was also having a sexual relationship with his previous wife, Carly Cilliers, had debts of £22,000 ($29,000) and he believed he would be set to receive a £120,000 ($159,000) insurance payout on her death. Mr Bowes [the prosecutor] said: “Victoria, known as Vicky, Cilliers, a highly-experienced parachutist and parachute instructor, was involved in a near-fatal parachute fall at the Army Parachute Association Camp at Netheravon, Wiltshire.
When she jumped out of the plane at 4,000ft (1,200m), both her main parachute and her reserve parachute failed, causing her to spiral to the ground. Those attending at the scene expected to find her dead, although she was badly injured, almost miraculously she survived the fall. Those at the scene immediately realized that something was seriously wrong with her reserve parachute, two vital pieces of equipment which fasten the parachute harness were missing.
A police investigation led police to the gas leak at the married couple’s house as they discovered that Cilliers was trying to kill his wife all along.
Here’s Victoria moments before taking a dive with her faulty parachute.
Here’s what else Mr. Bowes said.
“The prosecution case is Emile Cilliers attempted to kill her by means of a deliberate gas leak and within hours of that failed attempt, despite his complete disinterest by then to Victoria, he suggested that she might like to go parachuting the following weekend. The prosecution case is that he had by now decided to get rid of her permanently.”
Here’s an idea: leave your wife if you aren’t happy, don’t murder her, dude.
