Parker–Hulme murder case
The Parker-Hulme Murder was a murder and court case that occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1954.
The murder
On June 22, 1954, the body of Honora Rieper [1] was found in Victoria Park in Christchurch. She had been killed by multiple blows to the head with a brick. On June 23, two teenage girls were arrested, Pauline Parker (Rieper's daughter, also known as Pauline Rieper) and Juliet Hulme. Pauline was a girl from a working class background; Juliet Hulme was the daughter of Dr. Henry Hulme, a distinguished physicist who was the rector of University of Canterbury in Christchurch.
As a young child, Pauline suffered from osteomyelitis. Juliet suffered from tuberculosis and was sent to the Bahamas as a child to recuperate. The girls initially bonded over their ailments. As their friendship progressed, they formed an elaborate fantasy life together. They would often sneak out and spend the night acting out stories involving the fictional characters they had created. Their parents found this disturbing and worried their relationship was sexual. Homosexuality at the time was seen as a serious mental illness and was also a criminal offence, so both sets of parents attempted to compel the girls to remain separate.
In 1954, Juliet's parents separated and her father resigned from his position as rector of Canterbury College and was moving to England. It was then decided that Juliet would be sent to South Africa, for the good of her health, with an added incentive being that the girls would be separated. Pauline told her mother that she wished to accompany Juliet, but Pauline's mother made it clear to her that she would not be allowed. The girls then formed a plan to murder Pauline's mother and leave the country for the United States, where they dreamed they would publish their writing and work in film.
Trial and aftermath
The trial was a sensational affair, with speculation about their possible lesbianism and insanity. The girls were convicted on August 30, 1954, and each of them spent five years in prison. They were released with the condition that they never contact each other again. To this day, they have not contacted each other.
The murder was touched upon as strong evidence of moral decline less than four months later by the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents in what became known as the Mazengarb Report, named after its chair, Oswald Mazengarb. After her release from prison, Juliet Hulme travelled to the United States and went on to have a successful career as a historical detective novelist under her new name, Anne Perry.[2] She now lives in Scotland. Pauline moved to England and became a Roman Catholic.
Portrayals in fiction
The story of the murders was loosely adapted into the French film Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal (Don't Deliver Us from Evil) and more faithfully into Peter Jackson's Academy Awards-nominated film, Heavenly Creatures. Perry's identity was only uncovered due to publicity surrounding the latter film. The case was also fictionalised in 1958 as The Evil Friendship by M. E. Kerr under the pseudonym Vin Packer.
In March 2006, Perry said that while her relationship with Pauline Parker was obsessive, they were not lesbians.[3]
Notes
- ^ Before the trial began, it was discovered that Honora Rieper had never married Herbert Rieper, the man known as her husband. During the trial she was referred to by her maiden name, Parker.
- ^ Anne Perry official website
- ^ New Zealand Herald
External links
- Information on the Parker-Hulme case - from the public library of Christchurch, New Zealand
- Extensive FAQ on the Heavenly Creatures film - containing much data on the historical background of the motion picture
- [1]