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| Emile Cilliers trial: Wife 'blacked out' as parachute failed | Emile Cilliers trial: Wife 'blacked out' as parachute failed |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The wife of an Army sergeant accused of trying to kill her told a court "everything went black" as she struggled with her failing parachute. | The wife of an Army sergeant accused of trying to kill her told a court "everything went black" as she struggled with her failing parachute. |
| Victoria Cilliers, 40, suffered multiple injuries in a 4,000ft near-fatal fall at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire, in April 2015. | Victoria Cilliers, 40, suffered multiple injuries in a 4,000ft near-fatal fall at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire, in April 2015. |
| Emile Cilliers, 37, denies two counts of attempted murder. | Emile Cilliers, 37, denies two counts of attempted murder. |
| His former army officer wife told Winchester Crown Court she was forced to cut away the main parachute. | |
| "Straight away I knew something was not quite right, it had a lot of twists and the canopy wasn't floating," she said. | "Straight away I knew something was not quite right, it had a lot of twists and the canopy wasn't floating," she said. |
| "I can't remember if I pulled the reserve or it deployed automatically.... it was very twisted." | "I can't remember if I pulled the reserve or it deployed automatically.... it was very twisted." |
| Prosecutors allege Mr Cilliers, based with the Aldershot-based Royal Army Physical Training Corps, twisted the lines of his wife's main parachute and sabotaged a reserve chute the day before her jump. | |
| In her second day of giving evidence, Mrs Cilliers told the jury how she tried to untangle the reserve parachute. | 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'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. | "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." | "Then I couldn't work out why I couldn't get control, it was getting worse." |
| 'One in a million' | 'One in a million' |
| Physiotherapist Mrs Cilliers said the chances of a main parachute failing was one in 750 jumps but for the reserve to fail as well was "one-in-a-million". | Physiotherapist Mrs Cilliers said the chances of a main parachute failing was one in 750 jumps but for the reserve to fail as well was "one-in-a-million". |
| She suffered broken vertebrae, ribs and pelvis in the fall. | She suffered broken vertebrae, ribs and pelvis in the fall. |
| "The last thing I remember is trying to get some kind of control over it, trying to open as many cells as I could then everything went black," she said. | "The last thing I remember is trying to get some kind of control over it, trying to open as many cells as I could then everything went black," she said. |
| "I do not know if it was the G force or the impact but everything cut out." | "I do not know if it was the G force or the impact but everything cut out." |
| Mr Cilliers denies two counts of attempted murder and one of criminal damage recklessly endangering life. | |
| The case continues. | The case continues. |