Emily Chinea became the first woman in the Free State and South Africa to be executed after being found guilty of murdering her husband.

Research indicates that when women are moved with an overwhelming desire to kill, they seldom resort to physical violence themselves. Instead, they despatch their victims with great deliberation, favouring poison or getting others to perform the coup de grace. The Star of 21 June 1921 tells of a woman, Emily Chinea, and her paramour, Lucas Matong, who in 1903 were charged with the murder of her husband, an elderly white man. The murder was a particularly brutal one in which an axe and stones were employed and the body was thrown into a river. What made it worse was the woman was in bed with her husband, knowing what was going to happen, when he was summarily despatched by her lover. Emily Chinea was charged with Lucas Matong for the murder in 1903 of Emily''s husband. Both were found to have taken an active part in the murder and both were executed on 28 November 1904. She was the first woman of the Orange Free State to be condemned to death and executed and the first woman executed in South Africa.

Source: http://www.sahistory.org.za/