Pierre Corneille Faculyn Basson was born on January 3, 1880, in Paarl, Cape Colony, which is now known as South Africa. He was the oldest of four siblings in a family of farmers. His parents, Johannes and Anna Basson, were respected members of their community. Their family had roots as Huguenots, who were among the early settlers of the Cape Colony.

From a young age, Pierre showed signs of violent behavior. He was known for being cruel to animals. One notable incident involved him roasting a cat alive over a slow fire. After this episode, he did not engage in violent actions for several years, but he developed a reputation as a petty thief. This behavior caused trouble within his family.

Despite his issues with stealing, Pierre was smart and performed well in school. He graduated from one of the most prestigious colleges in the Cape Colony, showing that he had above-average intelligence. On October 15, 1900, when Pierre was about 20 years old, his father passed away after a brief illness. This event led Pierre to receive a sum of around £2,500 from a life insurance policy. There were later rumors that his father's death might have been a homicide, but these claims were never proven.

A few years after losing his father, Pierre won £5,000 in a lottery. He used this money to buy a farmhouse in Claremont, which he named "The Arums." He managed the family business from this location.

Between 1903 and 1906, Pierre Corneille Faculyn Basson was linked to a series of suspicious deaths. The first victim was his younger brother, Jasper. The two went fishing in Gordon's Bay, but Pierre returned alone, claiming that Jasper had fallen off a cliff and drowned. Pierre then collected £3,500 from Jasper's life insurance policy, raising suspicions about his involvement in the death.

Not long after, Basson went traveling with a friend named Bosman. Again, Pierre returned by himself and said that Bosman had died in an accident. A search party later found Bosman’s body with gunshot wounds to the head.

Another victim was a farmer named Adolf Beck. His body was discovered drowned but showed signs of strangulation. Like Jasper, Beck had a life insurance policy with Pierre as the beneficiary. Basson was also implicated in the disappearance of a business partner named Mr. Haupt, who vanished after delivering money to Pierre, and an unnamed English carpenter found dead on a beach.

In January 1906, an elderly German farmer named Wilhelm Schaefer came to Basson’s home to discuss the sale of his farm. After Schaefer disappeared, Pierre claimed he had gone to Kimberley. The police received anonymous letters suggesting that Basson had murdered Schaefer and buried him in his fowl house.

On February 10, 1906, police began digging in the fowl house. While they did this, Basson was inside watching. After a while, he apologized to his mother, retrieved a pistol, and shot himself in the mouth, dying instantly. After his death, authorities found Schaefer's body buried in quicklime, showing signs of being drugged and strangled.

Following the investigation, Basson was implicated in at least nine murders over three years. Three men who were thought to be his accomplices in Schaefer's murder were arrested. However, charges against two of them were dropped, and the only one to stand trial was acquitted.