Bio 

Petrus Stephanus Francois Hauptfleisch was a South African man from Richmond in the Cape Province. Available case accounts describe him as the only son and only child of his widowed mother, Barbara Hauptfleisch. Hauptfleisch lived with his mother into adulthood. Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, he gave up the farm property he had been working and volunteered for military service. He served in Europe during the war and returned to Richmond in 1919.

After returning from the war, Hauptfleisch worked in the local butchery and later began slaughtering animals independently. By 1925, he was married and had a young child, but his drinking and violent temper caused serious problems in his household. His wife eventually left him and took their child with her. After the breakup of his marriage, Hauptfleisch returned to live with his widowed mother at her house on the outskirts of Richmond.

Hauptfleisch’s alcohol use became a major part of the case history. Reports state that his drinking became so severe that local bottle stores and hotels eventually refused to sell him liquor. His mother was believed to have supported or encouraged this blacklist, which angered him.

In December 1924, shortly before the murder, the restriction on selling him alcohol was briefly relaxed. Hauptfleisch began drinking again and became aggressive. On December 11, 1924, his mother reportedly fled to a neighbour’s house and said that her son had threatened to stone her to death. Police were called, and Hauptfleisch was arrested for the night. After he was released and began drinking again, his mother again pushed for local liquor sellers to refuse him service.

The case account suggests two possible motives, resentment over his mother’s role in cutting off his access to alcohol and financial gain. Barbara Hauptfleisch had money, and Petrus was reportedly the sole beneficiary of her will. Sources differ on the amount, with some accounts listing £300 and others £600. Because he stood to inherit from her estate, investigators believed greed may have been part of the motive.

Murder Story

On January 13, 1925, Barbara Hauptfleisch was last seen alive in Richmond, Cape Province. A neighbour, Mrs. Christina Botes, spoke with her over the back garden fence around 2:00 p.m. that afternoon. Later that day, Petrus Hauptfleisch moved around town in a way prosecutors later argued was meant to create an alibi.

After 3:00 p.m., Hauptfleisch visited nearby neighbours and said he was going to buy sugar for his mother. He then went to a local store where he was known to read the newspaper. He later claimed that he spent time outside town looking for a missing blind goat and its kid before returning to Richmond.

Hauptfleisch’s account of his movements was challenged by witness testimony. Petrus Booysen, the superintendent of the Indigent Boarding House in Richmond, said he saw Hauptfleisch outside his mother’s house shortly before 5:00 p.m. Shortly afterward, Hauptfleisch ran into the street calling for help and saying that his mother had been burned.

Neighbours entered the house and found Barbara Hauptfleisch dead in the kitchen. Her body was lying partly on a raised stone hearth near the stove. Her head was near the fireplace area, and parts of her face, neck, upper body, and arm were burned. Hauptfleisch claimed that she had been trying to clean or burn out the chimney with petrol and that the fire had gone wrong.

The physical evidence did not support his explanation. The district surgeon, Dr. J.H. Bam, examined the body and noticed that the lividity marks were on the back of the body and heels. This indicated that Barbara had died lying on her back, not face-down in the hearth as Hauptfleisch claimed. The chimney also appeared clean, and there was no active fire in the stove when police examined the scene.

A post-mortem examination was conducted the following morning. Dr. Bam found no soot or carbon in the windpipe or bronchial tubes, which showed that Barbara had not been breathing when the fire occurred. Her lungs and blood showed signs consistent with asphyxia. Although the burns prevented clear identification of marks around the neck or throat, Dr. Bam concluded that she had died from suffocation.

Investigators believed that Hauptfleisch had killed his mother in bed, likely by suffocating her, and then moved her body to the kitchen. The Crown later argued that he placed her body on the hearth, used petrol, and set the body alight to make the death appear to be an accident. Witnesses also testified about his prior threats, the purchase of petrol before the death, and inconsistencies in his statements.

Hauptfleisch was arrested shortly after the post-mortem and charged with murder. His trial began at the Supreme Court in Cape Town on Monday, September 21, 1925. The case had been moved from the local circuit court because Hauptfleisch argued that strong local feeling in Richmond would prejudice his defence.

The prosecution relied heavily on circumstantial evidence. It argued that Barbara Hauptfleisch had been resting in bed when her son suffocated her, then staged the fire scene to conceal the murder. Evidence used against him included the post-mortem findings, the position of the body, the lividity marks, the lack of soot in the airways, the apparent purchase of petrol before the death, and witness testimony placing him near the house during the period he claimed to be elsewhere.

On Friday, September 25, 1925, Petrus Stephanus Francois Hauptfleisch was found guilty of murdering his mother. Before sentence was passed, he addressed the court and denied responsibility. He described matricide as “the most dastardly” crime and argued that the case against him was circumstantial and doubtful. He also said his wife and child would suffer because of his conviction.

Justice van Zyl sentenced Hauptfleisch to death. After sentencing, he spent 83 days in the condemned cell. During that time, his mother’s body was exhumed for further investigation, but the additional examination did not change the State’s case. On December 18, 1925, Hauptfleisch was informed that his appeals had been rejected.

Petrus Stephanus Francois Hauptfleisch was hanged at 7:00 a.m. on December 23, 1925. He maintained his innocence until his execution.