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eventREF E-0012151Revised

Event record

Maria Groesbeek is hanged for the murder of her husband, Christian Buys

Maria Groesbeek is hanged for the murder of her husband, Christian Buys

Date
13 Nov 1970
Updated
30 Sep 2019
Maria Groesbeek is hanged for the murder of her husband, Christian Buys

Maria Groesbeek and Christian Buys were married in the 1950's. During their seventeen years of marriage they lived with Buys' mother and six brothers for seven years, after which they moved house fourteen times. Groesbeek claims that Buys constantly accused her of flirting with other men and used this as an excuse to beat her. Desperately unhappy, she met and fell in love with Buys' friend, Gerhard Groesbeek, a 20 year old railway worker. Wanting to marry him, she asked her husband for a divorce. When he refused, Groesbeek laced his food with arsenic. Ten weeks after murdering her husband, she married Gerhard Groesbeek. Upon her arrest, Maria Groesbeek admitted to murdering her husband, stating that she wanted revenge for his refusal to grant her a divorce. After being sentenced to death by hanging on November 1969, Groesbeek was executed on 13 November 1970 at the age of 33.

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How we know this

  1. 01Adultery - Maria Groesbeek [online] Available at: real-crime.co.uk  [Accessed 3 November 2009]
  2. 02Wallis, F. 2000. Nuusdagboek: feite en fraste oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human&Rousseau.
  3. 03World-wide hangings - Maria Groesbeek, South Africa. [online] Available at: truecrimelibrary.com [Accessed 3 November 2009]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Maria Groesbeek is hanged for the murder of her husband, Christian Buys. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012151

South African History Online (2011) 'Maria Groesbeek is hanged for the murder of her husband, Christian Buys', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012151 (Accessed: 5 September 2026).

South African History Online, Maria Groesbeek is hanged for the murder of her husband, Christian Buys [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012151, (accessed 5 September 2026).

"Maria Groesbeek is hanged for the murder of her husband, Christian Buys." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012151. Accessed 5 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Maria Groesbeek is hanged for the murder of her husband, Christian Buys." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012151.

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