Cilliers Trial: Wife Lied About Husband's Action 'To Get Own Back', Court Told

The wife of an Army sergeant accused of attempting to murder her has told a court that she lied to police about her husband's actions "to get her own back" after she had learnt of his "lies and deceit".

Victoria Cilliers said that she "despised" her husband, Emile, after becoming suspicious about his extra-marital affair, which had pushed her to suicidal thoughts.

The 37-year-old defendant is on trial at Winchester Crown Court for two counts of attempting to murder her.

He is accused of tampering with her parachute and a gas fitting at their home in Amesbury, Wiltshire.

The trial has heard that the defendant had taken her parachute into the toilets at Netheravon Airfield on Saturday, April 4th, 2015, where he is alleged to have tampered with it prior to it malfunctioning during a jump on the following day.

Mrs Cilliers, who suffered a broken vertebrae, ribs and pelvis in the fall, admitted that she had given differing accounts in her police interviews after the fall on the amount of time her husband was alone with her parachute.

Saying she was generous with the 'timescales", she said:

"I said he was away for a couple of minutes then the second time was of five minutes which was probably an exaggeration."

"It was probably somewhere in between."

When asked if she had always told the truth, she replied:

"Not always. The extent of his lies and deceit had been disclosed to me and I just wanted to get my own back to a certain extent."

Mrs Cilliers, who walked into court unaided and chose to stand to give her evidence, said that she had later wanted to amend her statement but had been told by a police liaison officer that she would not be allowed to and that "no-one would believe me".

She continued:

"You have to remember I had been dealing with this day-in-day-out for months. It was horrific. I was injured with a baby. I had [had] enough at that point, I wanted everyone out of my life."

The court was told that Mrs Cilliers sent a message to her husband in February 2015, two months prior to the near-fatal fall, saying she thought he would "be happier without her".

She told the court:

"I was trying to threaten him... I was threatening suicide."

When asked if she meant it, she replied: "I am not sure", adding: "I do not think anyone would understand."

Cilliers denies two counts of attempted murder and one of criminal damage, recklessly endangering life.

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