Soldier allegedly sabotaged wife’s parachute to be with Tinder lover
By Lia Eustachewich The New York Post
A British army sergeant tried to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute and fiddling with a gas valve to their home — so he could be free of her for good and be with his Tinder lover, prosecutors charged.
Emile Cilliers, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, unsuccessfully attempted to kill his former Army officer wife, Victoria, twice in 2015, the Telegraph reported.
Victoria suffered serious injuries — including broken ribs and a broken collarbone and leg and spinal injuries — after her main and reserve chutes failed during a solo jump in Wiltshire, England.
Her 37-year-old South African husband was quickly arrested and is currently on trial in Winchester Crown Court for attempted murder.
Prosecutor Michael Bowes said Emile, who was close to $30,000 in debt, was set to receive a more than $159,000 insurance payout upon Victoria’s death. The military man was angling to leave Victoria for his girlfriend, Stefanie Goller, whom he met on the dating app.
Bowes told the court it was a miracle that Victoria, 40, a physiotherapist and parachute instructor for the army, survived the harrowing plunge from 4,000 feet.
“Those attending at the scene expected to find her dead, although she was badly injured, almost miraculously she survived the fall,” said Bowes.
He said two “vital pieces of equipment which fasten the parachute harness” were missing.
“Their absence inevitably meant the reserve parachute would fail and would send her spinning to the ground,” the prosecutor added.
A police investigation also found that a few days before the accident, Emile had rigged a gas leak in their home and left to stay somewhere else.
After the gas leak failed, the cold-hearted hubby suggested his wife go parachuting the next weekend.
“He couldn’t care less, he wanted to be with Stefanie, he wanted a new life and treated Victoria with contempt,” said Bowes. “He had no interest in spending time with her, he wanted to be out and away from her.”
Victoria, who’d discovered the leak, had jokingly texted Emile, “Are you trying to kill me?”
He replied, “Seriously, why are you saying that?”
“That prescient WhatsApp message turned out to be true,” Bowes said.
Emile has denied the allegations.
