SHE'D given up on love and the idea of happily ever after and after what her husband had done to her you could hardly blame her. Victoria Cilliers' shocking story made international headlines when it broke in 2015. The British physiotherapist miraculously survived a skydiving accident, plummeting 4 000m after both her main and reserve parachutes failed.
But as Victoria (now 48) lay in hospital with a broken back, pelvis and ribs and internal injuries, it emerged her fall was no accident but a clear-cut case of attempted murder. Investigators discovered her South African-born husband, Emile (44), had deliberately tampered with her skydiving equipment.
At first Victoria refused to believe the father of her two children could be capable of such an act. It was only after he was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 18 years behind bars that she finally came round to the idea that the man she'd loved had wanted her dead.
Yet while the betrayal dampened her faith in love the accident didn't kill her enthusiasm for skydiving. Three years after her nightmare ordeal, Victoria who'd started skydiving at 16 and notched up more than 2 500 jumps - took to the skies again, leaping from a height of 3 200m at an airfield in Oxfordshire.
"I smiled because people wanted me to but the noise of the propellers turning, the smell of the fuel, the sensation of the cold wind rushing in through the door... it all made me deeply apprehensive," she said at the time.
"It took me right back to the last flight when I'd had a sixth sense that I should not be jumping, a premonition of something terrible about to happen with no notion of what it might be. When I landed [this time] I felt the most incredible sense of relief and release."
The jump didn't only allow her to regain her sense of confidence as a sky-diver - it also opened her up to the possibility of love.
This story is from the 14 November 2024 edition of YOU South Africa.
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This story is from the 14 November 2024 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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