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     The 1954 murder case involving Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme captured the attention of  New Zealand society and people around the world.  With rumors of homosexuality swirling around, the public became obsessed with the motives behind the actions of these two girls. Their crime of parricide was fueled by the codependent relationship between the young teenagers.  Their fragile mental states allowed them to form an unnaturally close bond eventually leading to the murder of Pauline’s mother, Honorah Parker, when she posed a threat to the delusions they had developed together.

     The sources used to analyze this murder will include various court documents, direct and cross examinations of witnesses, news articles, and psychiatrist evaluations.  The news articles present an overview of the entire situation, also providing a media perspective on the girls’ case. More detailed, the court documents include specific examinations of witnesses and specialists involved in the crime and the lives of the girls, including witnesses such as Juliet’s mother and various psychiatrists. These close interactions provide a detailed references to the girls’ behavior and personality, eventually becoming a central part of their trial. Lastly, in order to define their behavior, will be the analysis of typical codependent behavior, which will be used to reference the girls behavior in order to determine any parallels present between their relationship and a codependent one. 

     The two girls central to this case are Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme. Juliet, only fifteen at the time of the murder, was born into an affluent English family, as daughter to Henry Rainsford Hulme, one of the four great minds responsible for the creation of the British H-Bomb. Although born into a lifestyle of privilege, she spent her childhood battling debilitating pneumonia and Bronchitis, being sent to live with strangers after the birth of her brother in 1944. After it’s recurrence at the age of eight, Juliet was sent to the Bahamas to live with relatives, in hopes that the climate would positively impact her health. Some believe it was possible that Juliet developed an attachment disorder due to her separation, which can in turn cause a narcissistic personality. Judith Morris, A psychotherapist from Auckland who specialises in children in adolescents describes the behavior of someone with this disorder stating, “as a coping strategy they can become "desperate to hang onto whoever they feel they can trust" and some themselves off from adults,” further acknowledging that “An over-inflated ego and outbursts of violence are also typical for those with the disorder.” It was later determined that the girls suffered from paranoia, attachment anxiety, and narcissism, disorders that would play an integral part in the eventual killing of Mrs. Rieper, Pauline’s mother.

     Later, when she was thirteen, Hulme reunited with  her family in Christchurch, New Zealand, after her father took a new job title as rector at the University of Canterbury. She soon began attending Christchurch Girls’ High School, where she met Pauline Parker. 

     Similar to Juliet, Parker had also battled childhood illness, a crippling bone marrow disease in her leg known as osteomyelitis.  The two girls immediately bonded over their respective childhood illnesses, their mutual appreciation for literature, and love of writing.  At this point, the relationship between the teenagers was seemingly normal, Parker’s mother even being “pleased about the association.” 2 

However,  this relation was said to have “developed rapidly into what may be called an intense devotion for each other.”  Pauline made no other friends after meeting Juliet, whom became the center of her attention and Juliet stopped paying attention to her horse, “with the horse once a week rather than once a day.” 2  Losing interest in their world, outside of each other, is an extremely common occurrence among codependents, isolating them from healthy relationships and personal identity. This was one of the first signs that their relationship would become obsessive.

     However close, these friends were a very unlikely pairing. Juliet was known to be a bit vain. She was seen by others as “the golden-haired beauty who treated other girls “with an airy bemused dismissiveness.” 10  Pauline, on the other hand, was described as the “dark scowler with the “filthy temper.” Their commonalities lying in their high intelligence, arrogant dispositions, and fervid imaginations. These qualities created a degree of separation from those around them, with typical characteristics. The girls were aware of their distinction, Pauline even going as far as to write in her diary, “how sad it is for other people that they cannot appreciate our genius.” 10

Pauline and Juliet even believed this genius gave them access to another dimension that they referred to as “the fourth world.” An excerpt in Pauline’s diary describes the girls newfound access to this “dimension”:

Today Juliet and I found the key to the 4th World. We realize now that we have had it in our possession for about 6 months but we only realized it on the day of the death of Christ. We saw a gateway through the clouds. We sat on the edge of the path and looked down the hill out over the bay. The island looked beautiful. The sea was blue. Everything was full of peace and bliss. We then realized we had the key. We know now that we are not genii as we thought. We have an extra part of our brain, which can appreciate the 4th World. Only about 10 people have it. When we die we will go to the 4th World, but meanwhile on two days every year we may use the ray and look into that beautiful world which we have been lucky enough to be allowed to know of, on this Day of Finding the Key to the Way through the Clouds. 13

 

     In her description of their discovery, the girls’ defined elevated sense of self shows evidence of their narcissism. Their complete belief in the world if fueled further by their intense imaginations, and each other.

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Pauline Parker can be found looking down in her class photo

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     This “genius,” or as believed by the girls’ to be unique brains, found expression in their writing of romance dramas and terrible poetry. Their writing began as matching descriptions of grandeur. But, they soon began to contain themes of murder, suicide, and imprisonment at an equal degree. Their love for the dramatic things in life, Pauline and Juliet spent a significant amount of time acting and dressing up, swooning over movie stars like James Mason, miming opera arias and imagining a shared future of glamour and romance. Activities were recorded in a “distorted and untruthful way” in Pauline’s diary. Their diary entries also described blissful nights during which they reenacted love scenes from Hollywood movies.

     As their shared interests and intelligence began to divert their interactions with those who “[could not] appreciate their genius,” their relationship continued to intensify. In a cross examination of Hulme’s mother she recounts a specific milestone in their relationship, in which the girls decided to go on a bicycle into the country. They returned missing articles of their clothing. Afterwards, Hulme’s mother noticed that their relationship “ became very important to both of them from that date.” 1 It was instances like these that created the suspicion that their relationship was homosexual, a characteristic that was believed to affect mental health and sanity.

     However, only a suspicion, the girls were allowed to continue their close partnership. The girls became literary partners and equally supported and admired the others’ talents. It was even discovered that Parker and Hulme had been trying to obtain money for a journey to the United States in order “to have their novels published.” 2     

     However, this fantasy continued past just simple literary greatness. In fact, principal psychiatric consultant for the defense, noted the girls’ deluded plans for fame in the US, describing their plans to go to Hollywood and supervise the cinema productions of their Novels, even choosing the actors. 

     Though, when Hulme was committed to a sanatorium, this shared literary interest led to a unique form of communication for the girls. They wrote to each other through the characters in their stories. They would put themselves into their developed characters, by names such as Charles II, Lancelon, and Deborah. Due to this constant communication, their relationship seemingly intensified after Hulmes spout at the sanitorium. Hulme described the loyalty she felt she owed for this stating, “I wasn’t allowed visitors of any sort but she wrote to me every day”  While the girls became closer after these months, Juliet is said to have “felt [she] owed her for that friendship.” 15 

     It was very obvious, from then on, that the girls had extreme separation anxiety whenever they were apart. In August of 1954 Juliet Hulme’s family moved to Ilam Homestead, a plantation like home on the land of Canterbury University. Parker was said to have visited their house consistently, sometimes spending days at a time there. During their days spent together in Ilam they were described as “[wandering] about together, keeping very much to themselves” and “[scribbling] in exercise books effusions which they called novels.” The two girls were also described as having “spent a good deal of time in each other’s beds, and made plans for their future life together.” 2  The significant amount of time they spent alone together caused “distresses” for the girls “unless they could make and appointment to see each other at regular intervals.” 1 Mrs. Rieper eventually began to find the girls behavior unhealthy and worked towards their separation. 

     It was around the same time that Hulme’s father decided to relocate to England, eventually deciding that she would then accompany her father “as far as South Africa.” However, Parker and Hulme were “determined not to be parted”. This attempt at separating the girls, by Parker’s mother, caused a great deal of resentment from the girls that gradually boiled over into an anger capable of paracide. Knowing that her mother would not let her accompany Juliet to South Africa, “they decided that the best way to end Mrs. [Rieper]’s objections was to kill her in such a manner as to make her death appear an accident.” 6  Pauline, chronicling her thoughts during this event, seemingly justifies their plan to herself by writing, "Why could mother not die? Dozens of people are dying all the time, thousands, so why not mother, and father too." 6 In an excerpt from Pauline’s diary from the days leading up to the event:

“… we decided to use a rock in a stocking rather than a sandbag. We discussed the moider fully. I feel very keyed up as if I was planning a Surprise party … So next time I write in this diary Mother will be dead. How odd, yet how pleasing.” 6

     As the girls had planned, on July 22nd 1954, Pauline Parker, Juliet Hulme, and Honorah Rieper went on a walk in Victoria Park of Christchurch, New Zealand. This is where the girls were decisively going to fulfil the plans for their vicious attack. After walking a few hundred feet down the trail, the two girls revealed their weapon. Using half a brick enclosed in a stocking, the two teenage girls took turns beating Parker’s mother, effectively ending her life. 

     After seeing that Mrs. Rieper was no longer alive, the girls ran to a nearby kiosk where the worker described them as being “agitated, breathless, and gasping ‘please help us. Mummy has been hurt --- covered with blood.’”           The body was found soon after, with injuries that made it evident immediately that she had been brutally beaten. Pathologist Colin Pearson later reported there were 45 external injuries, 24 wounds to the face and scalp, and fractures to the front of the skull. It was later revealed that the brick came out of the stocking from the force of the blows. The two who discovered the body called the police, and when the girls were found in the tearoom, “Parker was quiet, and the other girl was very agitated.” 3

     At 8:00 that night, the girls were met at Hulme’s house in Ilam by two detectives. Both girls stuck to their original story, Pauline stating: “We were walking up the track having been to the bottom. I was leading and mother and Deborah were behind me. Mother suddenly slipped and fell. She twisted sideways and hit her head on a rock or something. She seemed to keep tossing up and down and hitting her head." 6 However, after Senior Detective Brown made it apparent that they did not buy their story and questioned Pauline again: 

Who assaulted your mother?

I did.

Why?

If you don't mind I won't answer that question.

When did you make up your mind to kill your mother?

A few days ago.

Did you tell anyone you were going to do it?

No. My friend does not know anything about it. She was out of sight at the time. She had gone on ahead.

What did your mother say?

I would rather not answer that.

How many times did you hit your mother?

A good many times, I imagine.

What did you use?

A half-brick in a stocking. I took them with me for the purpose. I had the brick in my shoulder-bag. I wish to state that Juliet did not know of my intentions and she did not see me strike my mother. I took the chance to strike my mother while Juliet was away; I still do not wish to say why I killed my mother.

Did you tell Juliet that you killed your mother?

She knew nothing about it. As far as I know she believed what I told her, although she may have guessed what had happened, but I doubt it as we were both so shaken that it probably did not occur to her.

continuing:

"As soon as I started to strike my mother I regretted it but could not stop then." 6 

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     Parker was immediately transported to Christchurch Police Station, where they charged her with murder. Although Juliet was supposedly in the clear due to the contents of Pauline’s confession, after a search of Pauline’s room her diary was found. This diary contained descriptions of their plans leading up to the event, even detailing Juliet’s role in the murder. Juliet was then questioned the following day, confessing:  

"We went to a spot well down one of the paths and Mrs Parker decided to come back. On the way back I was walking in front. I was expecting Mrs Parker to be attacked. I heard noises behind me. It was a loud conversation in anger. I saw Mrs Parker in a sort of squatting position. They were quarreling. I went back. I saw Pauline hit Mrs Parker with the brick in the stocking. I took the stocking and hit her too. I was terrified. I thought that one of them had to die. I wanted to help Pauline. It was terrible. Mrs Parker moved convulsively. We both held her. She was still when we left her. The brick had come out of the stocking with the force of the blows. I cannot remember Mrs Parker saying anything distinctly. I was too frightened to listen...After the first blow was struck I knew it would be necessary to kill her. I was terrified and hysterical." 6

     On August 23, 1954 the trial of the murder of Honora Rieper commenced in Christchurch. The trial detailed the motives of the girls, and examined their abnormally close relationship. Though the defence never rebutted the claim that Parker and Hulme were responsible for the murder, on the third day of the trial they presented the assertion that the girls were insane when they killed Mrs. Rieper.

 

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Pauline Parker (right) and Juliet Hulme (left) before standing trial

 

     Attempting to prove the girls’ insanity called for a detailed inspection of their interactions and personal statements. Crown prosecutor, Mr. Brown, brought forward medical witness, Kenneth Robert Stallworthy to testify to the mental state of the two girls. After examining them separately, he stated that neither of the girls had a “disease of the mind.” Then, after reading Pauline’s diary, he came to the conclusion that “they had written down what they intended to do, and that they were able to give a clear account of what they did” further explaining that this understanding made it clear that “they knew the nature and quality of their act.” However, Stallworthy continues his refutation of their insanity stating, “I gained a very definite impression they wanted to be found insane,” which further proved his claim that they were sane because “it is extremely rare for an insane person to wish to be considered insane. That is part of their insanity.” 4

     Psychiatrists among the court concluded that the girls suffered from “paranoia, delusions of grandeur and delusions of ecstasy.” Each girl effectively enhances the others mental afflictions. The Crown prosecutor considered the crime a “cold, callously committed and premeditated murder, committed by two highly intelligent and perfectly sane girls.” 12

     The Crown ultimately denied their plea for insanity, found by multiple psychiatrists to have known what they were doing.  Besides rumored homosexuality, which was considered a serious mental illness at the time, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme were convicted as minors, being found clinically sane. The two teenagers, too young for the death penalty, were sentenced “at Her Majesty’s pleasure.” 6 They spent five years at Mount Eden Prison, where they were kept separated, unfortunately receiving no psychiatric treatment during their sentence. 

     Released before 1960, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme received new identities. Juliet, now a famous crime author named Anne Perry, went immediately to italy after her release to join her father, stepmother, and eventually, her mother. Pauline, however, was released with a condition of a controlled location of where she lived. During this controlled period, in which she was required to stay in Auckland, the renamed Pauline, Hilary Nathan, received her Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1965, released from her release conditions, she relocated out of New Zealand.

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Mugshots of Pauline Parker (left) and Juliet Hulme (right)

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     This five and a half day trial captivated international media attention. Not only is parricide an extremely rare and notorious crime, the girls’ ages made the extents of this event even more incomprehensible. Not to mention the interest the media took in the details of their partnership. Hypothesis on the girls sexuality and mental state, now, not only circulated the court but were rampant in the media, as news outlets would detail every aspect of their relationship possible to support their claims. 
   It has become a very common belief, in regards to this case, that the tight bond the two girls had was motivated by their homosexuality, which at the time was believed to have effects on one's mental health and sanity. Dr. Reginald Medlicott, a psychiatrist who interviewed Parker and Hulme and analyzed their writings, said ” There is evidence that their friendship became a homosexual one. There is no proof there was a physical relationship, although there is a lot of suggestive evidence from the diary that this occurred. There is evidence that they had baths together and had frequent talks on sexual matters.” Pauline’s diary entries also described blissful nights during which they reenacted love scenes from Hollywood movies. In a suggestive remark from Juliet she states, “We have now learned the peace of the thing called bliss and the joy of the thing called sin. That was to do with them becoming intimate with each other." However, when asked later about their relationship she contended, "But we're two girls; how could it be possible?" 
     While the evidence seems to support the notion that the girls relationship had crossed into a sexual relationship, the renamed Hulme, Anne Perry refutes this belief various times. When interviewed by the New York Times in 1996, Perry describes the aversion she has for the suggestion of lesbianism in their relationship stating, "I was so innocent sexually then."Later , reported in a 2006 interview in the NZ Herald, Perry is said to have told London Times Saturday Magazine, that “although they were never lesbians the relationship was obsessive.” 7
     In the time of this case, homosexuality was said to have affects or be a sign of ones insanity of mental illness. Now known to not be the case, however, it is much more likely that this crime was the result of a codependent friendship intensified by their difficult childhoods and love for drama and romance. 
     Although it can take on many forms, a codependent relationship is “when one partner needs the other partner, who in turn, needs to be needed.” 5 In these relationships, can cause ones’ mood, happiness, and identity to be determined by the others.’ There is also typically a more passive personality, who is less likely to make decisions for themselves, paired with a more decisive personality who finds satisfaction in making decisions for the other.9  These friendships typically develop quickly into an all consuming, almost passionate, relation.
     Typically, as for any unhealthy relationship, codependency can develop from an upsetting or traumatizing event in ones childhood. Although it could initially be perceived that the girl’s respective health issues would cause developmental issues, childhood illnesses does not inherently affect one's ability to have relationships. However, due to the significant time spent away from her parents, it is believed that Juliet became very dependent on her family as she was integrated back in to their home life, finding her place after so much time away. On the other side, Parker was known to have a very rough relationship with her mother, arguing often, sometimes even brutally. 8
     These types of relationships are also known to relieve a sort of emptiness. As played an integral part of their initial bonding, both of the girls had crippling childhood illnesses. From an exceedingly young age, Hulme had to spend a significant time away from her family, and constantly deal with displacement. Similarly, Parker had to undergo multiple painful treatments, ultimately continuing to endure leg pain for most of her child, which excused her from physical activities in school. Due to this time spent away from other children, traumatizing procedures, and exclusion from activities it was unusual for the girls to find someone who could relate to their experiences. Although this shared experience may have bonded the girls, what really intensified their relationship was their shared love for romance, literature, art, and drama, creating an passion in their friendship which fulfilled their want for this form of emotion through creativity, intensity also being a significant tell of a codependent relationship.11
     Typically in these relationships there is a passive personality, paired with an active personality, to balance it. The active personality is more decisive, sometimes even being identified as clinically narcissistic. Whereas the passive personality is less confrontational, allowing the active personality to be decisive. Juliet, for example, contained the very intense and somewhat vain personality similar to that of the active personality. To those who knew Juliet closely, acknowledged that she was “highly emotional and would be a responsibility until she developed and acquired a less intense attitude to living.” As an older woman, the renamed hulme, is said to be “handsome,” and somewhat vain stating, “ I’m too vain to get fat if I can help it.” This sort of “responsibility,” paired with an possible obsession created by the Actives’ narcissism, is usually taken up by the more passive participant, who finds self-assurance in helping and focusing on others. Similar in her devotion, Pauline,  “wrote [Juliet] every day” when she wasn’t allowed visitors. Also, as previously stated, the two girls began ignoring their other relationships after meeting each other, captivating the others attention.15 
     While codependent relationships are seen as unhealthy, rarely do they lead to such intense crime. However, in these relationships both people can find their judgment compromised, effectively carrying out actions they would’ve otherwise never done. Juliet, possibly further influenced by now-known-to-be mood altering drugs to treat her tuberculosis, felt a certain debt to Pauline for her friendship recounting, “Within 24 hours I learnt that my parents’ marriage was dissolving, my father lost his job and they were leaving the country and a girl to whom I felt I owed a great deal of debt hit the buffers as well and the decision had to be made within hours.” Juliet goes on to say that she believed Parker would kill herself if they were separated, that it was “one life or the other.” 15
     Neither of these girls was found clinically insane. However, due to their commonalities in interest, intelligence, and balancing personalities the two teenagers quickly developed an intense codependent relationship. Due to the sudden threat to their partnership, mixed with the high family tensions,  the girls acted quickly. Fueled further by guilt and obsession, their codependent relationship allowed for a more dramatic solution than if their relationship had been healthy.