Juliet Hulme & Pauline Yvonne Parker; FATAL CROSSINGS

 Juliet Hulme & Pauline Yvonne Parker; FATAL CROSSINGS

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   INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND

        Pauline Yvonne Parker (also known as Pauline Rieper) was 

born on 26 May 1938. She met Juliet Hulme when they were both 

in their early teens. Parker came from a working-class background.

 Her parents were part-time house staff and gardeners, employed

 

by the University of Canterbury.[clarification needed] Her father,

 Herbert Rieper, and her mother, Honorah Mary Parker, were living

 together but were not actually married (this was not public

 

knowledge and was only revealed at the trial).

         Juliet Hulme was born in London in 1938 and emigrated to

 New Zealand in 1948 with her parents. She was the daughter of

 Henry Hulme, a physicist who became the rector of University of

 Canterbury.The university provided their accommodation and the

 family lived at Ilam Homestead. Both Hulme and Parker attended

 Christchurch Girls' High School. The girls had both suffered

 illnesses as children – Parker osteomyelitis and Hulme

 tuberculosis – which formed the basis of an initial connection.

          As their friendship developed, Parker and Hulme formed an

 elaborate fantasy life together. They wrote plays, books, and

 stories centred in this world. The girls had an intense friendship

 which caused concern in Parker's parents that they were engaged

 in a sexual relationship; homosexuality at the time was

 considered a mental illness. The Hulmes also had concerns, but

 both families continued to allow the girls to see one another, and

 Parker was accepted at the Hulme home in Ilam for overnights

 and vacations. Hulme became withdrawn and ill when Parker

 would leave her home without her.

          During their relationship, the girls invented their own

 personal religion, with their own ideas on morality. They rejected

 Christianity and worshipped their own saints, envisioning a

 parallel dimension called The Fourth World, essentially their

 version of Heaven. The Fourth World was a place that they felt

 they were already able to enter occasionally, during moments of

 spiritual enlightenment. By Parker's account, they had achieved

 this spiritual enlightenment because of their friendship.

          Parker was not invited to go to Ilam over the summer

 holidays in 1953 as she had been in previous years. In 1954,

 Hulme's parents separated. Problems with faculty and the board

 forced Hulme’s father to resign from his position as rector of the

 university, and her mother was involved in an extramarital affair

.

 Hulme's family planned to return to England, but it was decided

 that Hulme herself would be sent to live with relatives in South

 Africa—ostensibly for her health.

          Both girls were heartbroken over their upcoming separation

 and decided that Parker should go to South Africa as well. They

 thought the Hulmes would agree to this plan. Parker was certain

 

her mother would not allow her to go with Hulme. The girls formed

 a plan to murder Parker's mother in order to remove their

 perceived obstacle in them remaining together. Their long term

 plan was to go to South Africa and then head to Hollywood or New

 York City, where they believed they would publish their writing

 

and work in film.

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Murder

            On the afternoon of 22 June 1954, Parker and Hulme had

 afternoon tea with Parker's mother, Honorah Rieper, in a tea kiosk

 in Victoria Park, Christchurch. Following their meal they walked

 through a wooded area of the park approximately  (430 ft) down

 the path, where Hulme and Parker bludgeoned Rieper to death

 with half of a brick enclosed in an old stocking. After committing

 the murder, the two girls ran back to the tea kiosk. They were met

 by Agnes and Kenneth Ritchie, owners of the tea shop, whom they

 told that Rieper had fallen and hit her head.

           Rieper's body was discovered in Victoria Park by Ritchie. 

Major lacerations were found about her head, neck, and face, with

 minor injuries to her fingers. Police soon discovered the murder

 weapon in the nearby woods. The girls' story of Rieper's

 accidental death quickly fell apart.

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Trial and conviction

         Prior to the trial, Parker had been known as Pauline Rieper. 

Her mother had been living with her father, Herbert Rieper, but the

 police investigations revealed that they were not, in fact, married.

 Thus, during the trial, both Honorah and Pauline were referred to

 with the surname "Parker".

        The trial was a sensational affair, with speculation about the

 girls' possible lesbianism and insanity. Parker and Hulme were

 convicted on 28 August 1954; and, as they were too young to be

 considered for the death penalty, each spent five years in prison.

 Juliet Hulme served her sentence at Mount Eden prison in

 Auckland. Some sources say they were released on condition that

 they never contact each other again, but Sam Barnett, then

 Secretary for Justice, told journalists there was no such condition.

 Hulme's release was unconditional, and she immediately rejoined

 her father in Italy, while Parker was placed on six months' parole

 in New Zealand, after which she left the country.

        Less than four months later, the murder was taken as strong

 evidence of moral decline by the Special Committee on Moral

 Delinquency in Children and Adolescents in what became known

 as the Mazengarb Report, named after Ossie Mazengarb, who

 chaired the committee.