The famous New Zealand author today known as Anne Perry (“The Crimes of Cater Street”, “Death of a Stranger”, “A Crime at Buckingham Palace”, “Whitewashed Tombs”) was originally called Juliet Marion Hulme, and was inseparable from her friend and neighbor Pauline Parker, to such an extent came their friendship that they decided to kill the mother of Pauline, Honor Rieper.
The brutal murder committed in the 1950s by the teenage couple who considered themselves best friends ended up separating them for life.
It all started on the afternoon of June 22, 1954, when Juliet and Pauline invited Honore Parker, Pauline's mother, to have a picnic in Victoria Park, in the city of Christchurch; they walked away and, seeing that there were no people who could see them, Pauline took out a brick she kept in a stocking and hit her mother.
He thought that with a single blow it would be enough to take the life of his mother, but, seeing that he had only knocked her unconscious, he hit her a total of 45 times in the head. With each blow, Honora begged and cried for her life; however, this did not stop the two friends: Juliet was holding the mother's arms, while her daughter continued to beat.
In her diary, Pauline wrote that they had asked people for support, telling them a story different from what had happened: “Please help. My mother fell, hit her head on a rock, and she's covered in blood. I think she's dead,” the young woman shouted to passers-by.
At first, the police gave them credit and tried to help them, but later they noticed that many things did not coincide, so they asked the two friends to come and testify. At the first interrogation, Pauline confessed.
Likewise, her diary had many incriminating elements that served to ensure that the two young women were blamed for the murder of Honora.
On April 28, 1954 he wrote: “The rage against my mother boils inside me. She is the biggest obstacle in my path”, showing that she thought that, by killing her mother, she would have freedom. “We have studied it carefully and we tremble at the idea. Naturally, we feel a little nervous. But the pleasure of the preparations is very great.”
Some believe that the reason for the anger of young Juliet, which led her to commit this horrible homicide, was the divorce of Juliet's parents, after which Mrs. Hulme decided to leave with a client, named Walter Perry, while her father, Professor Hulme, left his post at the University of Canterbury, where he became rector, and prepared his return to London.
There were already plans for Juliet to go with her aunt to South Africa; Pauline, knowing this, refused to stay without her friend and told her mother that she wanted to go with her, to which Mrs. Hume refused. Three days after this discussion with her daughter, Honora was lying dead in Victoria Park.
On June 21, 1954 hours before killing her mother, Pauline vented in her diary: “I feel as excited as when you prepare a surprise party. My mother has destroyed all beauty, and the happy event will take place tomorrow afternoon. The next time I write in the diary, mother will be dead. What a strange feeling of pleasure!”
On August 29, 1954, after talking to psychiatrists and giving their testimony before the authorities, the two young women were found guilty; they were saved from being hanged, which at that time was the punishment of New Zealand laws, but were held in a center. They were also forbidden to be around, not even write to each other, each one was sent to a different prison and, five years later, they left without communicating again.
The first to leave was Juliet, who reunited with her family and went to her mother's village, where she took her stepfather's surname and called herself Anne Perry; she is now a very successful writer of black novels and detective stories.
Pauline also changed her name to Hilary Nathan and went to live in Britain; the library in the village where she lives indicates that she is a voracious reader.
KEEP READING: