GUILTY Uk - Emile Cilliers Accused Of Tampering W/ Wife's Parachute, Wiltshire, 5 April 2015

[Rayemonde]

I haven't read the article yet but Victoria Cilliers has been giving evidence today.

Link here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5015559/Skydiving-wife-husband-tried-kill-court.html

From article:

Mrs Cilliers told jurors she had exaggerated the amount of time her husband, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, had spent alone with her skydiving kit in the toilets at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire, on Easter Sunday 2015.

She first told detectives he went missing for 'a couple of minutes' but in a second statement said it was 'over five minutes' but admitted today: 'It was probably somewhere in the middle of that'.

She added: 'I was very angry. I was out for blood. I made it sound worse than it was because I was humiliated – I wanted him to suffer. I got to the point where the extent of his lies and deceit had been disclosed to me and I wanted to get my own back to a certain extent.’...

Today Mrs Cilliers gave evidence for the first time at Winchester Crown Court and revealed she decided to leave everything to their children in 2014 because he was unfaithful and 'bad with money'.

She said: 'I'm an intelligent person who knew what was going on. I was starting to feel insecure in the marriage, I knew he was having an affair, I wanted to get it done sooner rather than later.'...

After he spent New Year's Eve with his lover Stefanie Goller, who he met on Tinder, she began feeling suicidal because it was the 'final straw', she said.

Mrs Cilliers revealed she had set a time limit of their wedding anniversary in September 2015 for him to 'shape up or ship out' but he tried to kill her in the March and again six days later, it is alleged.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5015559/Skydiving-wife-husband-tried-kill-court.html

 

[Tortoise]

In a video police interview shown to Winchester Crown Court, Victoria Cilliers told how the near-fatal jump at the Army Parachute Association at Netheravon, Wiltshire, went disastrously wrong on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015.

..
Mrs Cilliers said: "Straightaway I knew something was not quite right, it had a lot of twists and the canopy wasn't floating.

"I got out of the twists and one of the risers was wrapped around which is a packing issue. The canopy wasn't flying properly so I made the decision to cut away the main.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/cri...te-before-everything-went-black-a3668946.html

more at link

 

[Tortoise]

In her second day of giving evidence, Mrs Cilliers told the jury how she tried to untangle the reserve parachute.
"I'm trying to fly something that is spinning quite fast, it's like a centrifuge, you end up facing the ground spinning quite rapidly.
"I had to use quite a lot of force using the whole body to untangle the twists which I managed.
"Then I couldn't work out why I couldn't get control, it was getting worse."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-41759492

 

[Tortoise]

More background about their relationship problems in this article from today in court.

A few extracts -

Mrs Cilliers said she had been talking with friends for "five to 10 minutes" while her husband was with the parachute.

Mrs Cilliers said the couple had an argument about him smoking in her car and said: "The look he gave me was incredible. He looked absolutely livid, almost blank look; I haven't seen that sort of expression before."

[FONT=&quot]Mrs Cilliers said that after the fall, her husband did not visit her very often in the hospital where she had undergone major surgery for her leg and back injuries, and did not say that he loved her.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]She said: "I said 'I love you' and he didn't reply, which is harsh in that situation, really *advertiser censored***** harsh."

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[FONT=&quot]Mrs Cilliers said that after the accident she was due to receive an insurance payout which she said her husband wanted to use to pay for a trip to South Africa and for his car to be serviced.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]She said: "It made me angry. I wanted to used the money to stay at home with the children and recover and not pay for his car to be serviced."


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http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/natio...trial-850ff274-3350-4336-9442-c916d5f69847-ds

 

[Legally Bland]

More background about their relationship problems in this article from today in court.

A few extracts -

Mrs Cilliers said that after the accident she was due to receive an insurance payout which she said her husband wanted to use to pay for a trip to South Africa and for his car to be serviced.
She said: "It made me angry. I wanted to used the money to stay at home with the children and recover and not pay for his car to be serviced."

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/natio...trial-850ff274-3350-4336-9442-c916d5f69847-ds

Unfortunately that doesn't surprise me. I assume it would have been a solo trip too, I doubt she was in any condition to go on a long haul flight.

 

[Moll]

I gather from the reports today that she was discharged from hospital to the family home and the husband was there with her. This sounds extraordinary - have I got that right?

 

[Tortoise]

I gather from the reports today that she was discharged from hospital to the family home and the husband was there with her. This sounds extraordinary - have I got that right?

It looks like it. I can only think that she didn't twig until the police started asking questions, after her discharge from hospital. It must be so hard to believe that your husband would try to kill you, even if she had said it flippantly when she found the gas leak. She wouldn't have known the slinks were missing right away, unless anyone rushed to tell her, and the police may have asked the base to keep it quiet for a while while they investigated.

 

[Tortoise]

Unfortunately that doesn't surprise me. I assume it would have been a solo trip too, I doubt she was in any condition to go on a long haul flight.

Doesn't surprise me either. I wonder if he was thinking of doing a runner.

 

[Squamous]

Nor me. She wouldn’t be in a position to probably even think straight after such an horrific experience, and he doesn’t exactly strike me as the type to have enough courage or honour to end the relationship normally or respectfully.

 

[Tortoise]

Live reporting from Sky - Victoria Cilliers cross-examination

http://news.sky.com/story/parachute-trial-live-victoria-cilliers-cross-examined-11105625

 

[Alyce]

Thanks for the Sky link Tortoise

Just copied out the last three updates from Victoria's evidence.

I do hope this is not going to weigh against her with the Jury.



When explaining why she exaggerated statements VC says “I wanted to cast suspicion on him. I wanted revenge. I had been ridiculed”.

I expanded on the truth because I knew it was a key point...at that point I wanted him to suffer” (referring to time Emile was in toilet)

Asked if she was telling the truth in an initial police interview, Victoria Cilliers says she wasn’t particularly bothered

 

[Squamous]

It’s interesting, isn’t it? I think she doesn’t want to believe that he did it.

 

[Tortoise]

Mrs Cilliers said 'No' when Prosecutor Michael Bowes QC asked her: 'Did you tamper with the reserve in any way?'

The prosecutor then said: 'So if it turns out it is to do with deliberate human intervention, it's nothing to do with you, is that your evidence?'

Mrs Cilliers replied: 'Yes.'


Suggesting she knew the significance of Cilliers' toilet trip, Mr Bowes said: 'I'm going to suggest it's very, very unlikely that you could not be bothered to be accurate. What are you saying?

Mrs Cilliers said: 'I expanded on a truth but I knew potentially that was a key point that was going to get him into some hot water.

'I wanted them (police) to investigate him. I did not know the full extent at that point.'

Mr Bowes then suggested that she was in fact, by her nature, scrupulously fair, and had been in the police interview.

'My intuition was right, that makes me angry and upset. What I thought was a reasonable relationship and family, he's just torn apart.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-tried-kill-wanted-suffer.html#ixzz4x15A2qqd

 

[Tortoise]

It’s interesting, isn’t it? I think she doesn’t want to believe that he did it.

Yes. I think the prosecutor has tried to show this, and her lack of belief in herself too.

I haven't read anything yet about the defence cross examination. I expect it will be brutal. But this is a crown prosecution it's not VC's murder allegation.

 

[Tortoise]

[FONT=&quot]FINANCIAL agreements between an Army sergeant and the wife he is accused of trying to murder would only benefit him if she was alive, a court has heard.

more to read -

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/n...ith_wife_alive__attempted_murder_trial_hears/


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[Tortoise]

It's what he and she thought that matters, not the actuality of it.

 

[Tortoise]

Ms Marsh then asked: "Did you do anything either accidentally or intentionally to manipulate your parachute?"
"No," the witness answered.

Under cross-examination, she also told the jury she did not recall making any comment to her husband after he had taken the parachute to the toilet with him in the hangar the day before the jump, nor seeing him with his packing paddle - described as being like a "long ruler".

http://www.forces.net/news/cilliers-trial-army-sergeant-better-wife-alive-court-hears

 

[Tortoise]

Well he was hardly likely to be waving his packing paddle around was he?

 

[Tortoise]

Quite a confusing report here, referring mainly to Vicky's last day of evidence yesterday - it seems as if she might be trying to sabotage the prosecution's case?

Mr Bowes also questioned her over evidence in cross-examination where she suggested she could not remember if she used a tool on the gas lever as she investigated a suspected gas leak at their home the week on March 30, 2015.

Mrs Cilliers, when asked earlier by Ms Marsh about whether she used to tools, told the jury: 'I tried to see if it was something I could fix.
'I cannot remember. I could have done.'

Later, Mr Bowes questioned Mrs Cilliers over her comments, saying: 'Are you just trying to help him (the defendant) on this point because you think it helps him?'

The witness replied: 'No I cannot remember.'

'You did not use the pliers on anything did you?' the prosecutor asked, to which the witness replied: 'I don't remember.'

Mr Bowes said: 'I'm going to suggest you certainly did not.'

Mrs Cilliers said: 'You can suggest what you like.'

When Mr Bowes suggested she was unlikely to have done so because she had admitted to the jury she was not good at DIY, she said: 'It's not DIY... I could not see anything I could influence so I just left it.'

Mr Bowes said: 'Did you wrench that nut, leaving marks on it?'

'No,' Mrs Cilliers responded.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ccused-tampering-parachute.html#ixzz4xDM5XJEU

 

[Tortoise]

There is a report in the Times about today's evidence but it's subscription only.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/parachute-trial-husband-took-lover-to-see-fifty-shades-rdbmzxtd5