'I'm a dancer, not a stripper'

A Romanian dancer, who is one of 35 women charged with carrying out immoral acts at clubs, yesterday told a court how she had been dancing for nine years and felt disappointed by what happened to her in Malta.

Simona Hebauer admitted that she was angered: "I'm a dancer and not a stripper. It's a big difference," she said in broken English.

"I feel offended. I have a permit in Malta... I pay my tax. I've worked a lot and police have come to check the papers, but never in my life have I been treated like this... I'm sorry but I'm very disappointed," she said.

Ms Hebauer took the witness stand, before Magistrate Antonio Mizzi, in the case against her and another 34 women who are pleading not guilty to their involvement in running night clubs for immoral purposes.

She explained that she was a trained dancer and had been dancing professionally in clubs in various parts of the world including Austria, Germany, Italy and Luxemburg.

Everywhere she went she had the necessary work permits and was registered as an artist.

She explained how on November 17 she was at work, at Steam in Paceville, dancing on the stage when suddenly, at about 1.30 a.m. police entered the premises. She was wearing a bra, a g-string and a long black see-through dress over everything.

She and her colleagues were escorted out of the club to the police headquarters without being allowed to change.

She was only given her normal clothing at about 3 p.m. the following day and, she added, when she asked a policewoman why she had not been allowed to change, she was told that everyone was to see who she was.

She explained that every from of dance comes with its outfit and gave the example of tango. Lap dancing was similar to cabaret and she was wearing the outfit to go with it. Ms Hebauer also spoke about the reports that appeared in the media both in Malta and in her hometown where it was falsely claimed that she and other Romanian girls were charged with prostitution.

"My mum called me and I told her it was not true... We were mistreated in all newspapers in Malta. This is not fair," she said.

Earlier, the magistrate heard Duncan Fenech, from AO clubs in Bugibba and Paceville, and Johnathan Grima from Steam club in Paceville.

They explained that their clubs had been open for about four years. Although, when the clubs had just opened, they had problems with the police regarding the work permits of foreign dancers, since then they never had any more trouble.

Both explained how the police and MTA officials carried out regular inspections in the clubs in the past years and there were never any problems.

The clubs were licensed and held permits to offer live entertainment. As for the dancers, they said, they all had working permits.

Both Mr Fenech and Mr Grima said they were surprised the night the police made the arrests as they thought it would be another usual inspection.

They said that their clubs only allowed people over 21 to enter. Mr Fenech later explained that, although the AO clubs were licensed for people over 16, they only allowed in people over 21 because it was more economically viable since the older crowd had more money to spend.

Mr Fenech explained how the dancers wore a bra and a g-string and sometimes they wore a see-through dress on top of their underwear. Customers were not allowed to touch the dancers.

He added that after the arrests, the club owners were summoned to a meeting with police officers. Lawyers were not allowed to attend.

During this meeting, the police told them that they would only be allowed to re-open the establishments if they stopped the lap dances.

The dancers were to be fully clothed and were only to perform pole dances and table dancing.

The club owners did not argue with the police since their priority was to re-open their clubs for business, he said.

During yesterday's sitting the defence team, made up of over 10 lawyers, asked the magistrate to suspend the proceedings for a few minutes.

When they returned, carrying a plastic bag from a bookshop situated close to the law courts, they exhibited a copy of two adult magazines - Playboy and Perfect 10.

The lawyers also exhibited a copy of a calendar produced by a local company and featuring naked Maltese women.