Emma Walters charged over Boxing Day drink-drive, speeding incident
Fresh details have been revealed from the charges against John Setka’s wife Emma Walters, who was allegedly speeding in a car with two children when she blew a reading nearly six times the limit, after a Boxing Day row with the union boss last year.
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The wife of Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka was allegedly drunk-driving and speeding in a car with two children when she was pulled over after a Boxing Day altercation with her husband.
Fresh details of the charges against Emma Walters show she was allegedly driving at 126kmh when she recorded a breath test reading more than five times the legal alcohol limit.
Ms Walters allegedly blew a blood alcohol reading of .282 when highway patrol officers stopped the car she was driving near Horsham, in western Victoria.
Two children aged five and seven were passengers in the car.
Ms Walters and Mr Setka were going through a difficult period in their marriage at the time and released a joint statement earlier this week saying they said and did things they regretted at the “height of emotional turmoil” during their marital troubles.
“We have as a family, had an incredibly difficult few years and I made it clear then as I am now, I was in a very dark place in which I did seek refuge with alcohol during that time and this is something I am not proud of,” Ms Walters said in the statement.
Mr Setka pleaded guilty in June to breaching a court order and harassing Ms Walters by text messages.
Ms Walters identified herself as the person who received the harassing text messages.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has been pursuing the removal of Mr Setka from the ALP saying his conduct was bringing the entire party into disrepute.
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However, the Victorian Supreme Court this week found that the national executive’s power to expel Mr Setka was subject to it complying with preconditions set out in the party’s Victorian branch rules.
Ms Walters was recently hired as an electoral officer for the Victorian Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek.
She will face a regional court for a one-hour plea hearing in October over drink-driving and speeding charges.