Emma Walters: Estranged wife of CFMEU union boss John Setka fined $1500 for ‘deadset serious’ threat to kill

The estranged wife of union heavy weight John Setka has been found guilty of threatening to kill him in a secretly recorded conversation with a private investigator. Emma Louise Walters, 47, reappeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday, as Magistrate Leon Fluxman announced his finding before handing her a $1500 fine without conviction. Walters exhaled sharply and shifted in her seat as the verdict was announced. The court was told private investigator Adrian Peeters, of Group One Investigations, had been called to her West Footscray home on March 21 for a “debugging job” because Walters feared her estranged husband, CFMEU secretary John Setka, had hidden surveillance devices to monitor her. About 10 minutes in to the consultation, Mr Peeters began recording after she requested he help her acquire a “piece” because she needed to kill the father of her children “to survive”. She had pleaded not guilty, with her lawyer, Emily Clark, arguing that while the threat was made, her client did not intend for the investigator to fear the threat would be carried out — a central element of the charge. “Ms Walters used florid language to express her level of concern to him,” she said. “She wants him to appreciate she’s scared of Mr Setka and no one was helping her out.”Mr Fluxman rejected the submission Walters’ language was just “florid”, saying he was “at least” satisfied beyond reasonable doubt she was reckless to the fact Mr Peeters could fear the threat would be carried out. “At no point did she hedge her words or make them conditional … She was clear. “She was making it absolutely plain she had reached the end of her tether.” Mr Fluxman said it was clear Mr Peeters was “very alarmed” by her comments, but found “her state of mind and sense of hopelessness at the time” were important sentencing considerations. “You are, in my view, plainly a victim of serious and sustained family violence which would have a prominent and protracted effect on you,” he said. Part of the conversation was secretly recorded by Mr Peeters and played to the court during a hearing last month in which Walters asked him to help her acquire a gun and hide it in the house. “I need to kill my children’s father and I’ve got no other solution to the situation I’m in,” she said in the 22-minute recording. “I have to put him in a situation where I’ve accessed and used it for the purposes of self-defence. “I’m deadset serious … I know how to use it; I’m not dumb like that.” Walters told Mr Peeters she was going to have to “lure” Mr Setka to the property, and “this conversation never happened”. Mr Peeters told the court he had never met Walters before and was uncomfortable with where the conversation led. “(She was) talking about a possible murder,” he said. “I needed to have my own backup of what was said.” In a police interview, Walters claimed she did not want to kill John Setka but was trying to convey to Adrian Peeters, by detailing allegations of family violence, that she needed his help. She said she was in a distressed state at the time after recent events and afraid of Mr Setka, describing their relationship as allegedly the “very definition of coercive control”. Walters was initially charged with incitement to commit conspiracy to murder, however this was later dropped at a hearing in August. Another charge of allegedly attempting to acquire a handgun was thrown out by Mr Fluxman because police had failed to provide any evidence of the specific type of firearm. The court was told Walters is currently studying a masters degree and looking after he two children but intends to resume her law career in “social justice”. She declined to comment on the case outside of court.