Army sergeant’s wife admits she was ‘out for blood’ over her love rat husband’s affair – and admits she lied to cops to hit back
A SOLDIER’S wife said to be the target of a parachute murder plot told a court yesterday she had lied to cops to hit back at the love rat.
Vicky Cilliers said she exaggerated when quizzed shortly after having their second child and just a month on from suffering multiple injuries in a 4,000ft fall.
She told a jury: “In the statements what I said was an extreme reaction at the time.
“I was angry — 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 didn’t always tell the truth, no. 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.”
The army sergeant's wife allegedly cut him out of her will before he tried to kill her by sabotaging her parachute after discovering he was having an affair, a court heard.
Victoria Cilliers said that she "despised" her husband, Emile, who is accused of trying to kill her on two occasions, after becoming suspicious about his extra-marital affair.
The 40-year-old, who was giving evidence for the first time in the trial, told Winchester Crown Court she realised her husband was being unfaithful in November 2014.
She said that Cilliers was "bad with money" and decided to change the legal document, leaving the house to their children.
Mrs Cilliers, who was pregnant at the time, said: "Cracks were starting to show, I was aware around that time, I had suspicions before that he was having an affair."
Speaking about Cilliers finances, she said: "They weren't good, I was aware that he had financial issues. He was bad with money. I wasn't party to what debts, I knew he did have debts.
"I needed to redo my will primarily because I had children, I owned the house, and Emile was bad with money, and I needed to be sure that if anything happened to me, the children would be well looked after.
"I needed to redo my will primarily because I had children, I owned the house, and Emile was bad with money, and I needed to be sure that if anything happened to me, the children would be well looked after.
"So I wanted to make the will to leave everything with the children, and 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."
She said that her husband would still be the recipient of her life insurance policy and the contents of the house.
In a letter to the defendant to accompany her new will, which he was not shown, she wrote: "I do hope Emile you understand my reasons.
"I love you and you are an amazing father to the children, I just want to ensure that they have the access to education I had."
She said the "final straw" was when he was away at New Year's and she suspected he was away with his lover.
She said: "I am an intelligent person, I knew exactly what was going on, there's only so much you can put up with."
She said she had set a time limit of their wedding anniversary the following September for him to "shape up or ship out".
Cilliers is accused of tampering with a gas fitting at their home in Amesbury, Wiltshire, before allegedly removing vital "slinks" from a parachute ahead of a 4,000ft skydive at Netheravon Airfield in April 2015.
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 "time-scales", 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 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, that she thought he would "be happier without her".
She told the court: "I was trying to threaten him, if you do not take a grip, I was threatening suicide."
When asked if she meant it, she replied: "I am not sure."
And added: "I do not think anyone would understand."
Cilliers denies two counts of attempted murder and one of criminal damage recklessly endangering life.
Mrs Cilliers said that she joined the Army as a physiotherapy officer in 1998 and went to serve at several hospitals and rehabilitation centres as well as served at a field hospital during the Kosovo conflict.
She said she met the defendant while based at Tidworth and introduced him to parachuting and taught him to pack parachutes.
She said: "He was fast-tracked through the early part of parachuting because he lived with an instructor.
"It helped me, I could jump, he packs."
She said she did her first jump at the age of 16 for a cancer charity when living in Scotland and had later taken a parachuting course when she became addicted to the sport.
Mrs Cilliers said: "I did one jump and was absolutely hooked, it became an obsession, it's an addiction and it's not dissimilar to drugs, it takes over your life and for 15 years that's pretty much all I did."
She described herself as a "reasonable" parachutist who jumped at national level but said her "strengths lay on the ground with the students".
South African-born Cilliers, a physical training instructor who serves with the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, is accused of tampering with his wife's parachute in toilets at the airfield the day before her jump.
Earlier in the trial, Cilliers showed no emotion when told the chute was missing vital equipment.
Winchester Crown Court has heard Cilliers, who had around £22,000 of debts and had started an affair after meeting a woman, Stefanie Goller, on Tinder, believed he would receive £120,000 life insurance as a result of Mrs Cilliers' death.
He is alleged to have sent a host of flirty 50 Shades of Grey inspired texts a day after allegedly tampering with his wife's parachute.
As his wife lay in hospital Cilliers was messaging his mistress asking her to call him "Mr Grey" and asked her to be his "nude house cleaner", the court heard.
Cilliers denies two counts of attempted murder and one count of criminal damage reckless to the endangerment of life.
The trial continues.
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