Lap dancers acquitted

Thirty one foreign women were yesterday cleared of their involvement in the running of nightclubs for immoral purposes in a judgment that pointed to the changing moral standards of society.

The women, who worked as dancers in the adult nightclubs, burst into applause, thanked their defence lawyers and hugged one another when they heard the ruling.

In a judgment that was particularly critical of the prosecution, Magistrate Antonio Mizzi noted how the women had been charged with "keeping, managing or sharing with others in the management of a brothel or of any house, shop or other premises or any part thereof which is or are, or is or are reputed to be resorted to for the purpose of prostitution or other immoral purposes".

(Originally 35 women were involved in this case but four of them will be handed down a separate judgment.)

Magistrate Mizzi heard how, on the night between November 17 and 18 last year, several police officers were instructed to carry out searches in various nightclubs across the island.

The aim was to investigate whether there was any form of prostitution or other immoral acts going on in these establishments. Anyone dressed indecently was to be arrested.

That night police arrested several women who danced at the clubs and the owners were ordered to close the establishments.

The magistrate ruled that although the purpose for which the searches were carried out was "laudable", this could not be said about the fact that some of the women were not allowed to change into their normal clothes when escorted to the police headquarters.

The magistrate added that the police's claim, that this had been done to photograph the women to present evidence in court, was a "crass excuse".

Every person had a right to dignity and, the magistrate added, in such a case an apology was due to those who had been threated that way. While noting that this was not the case for all the women, he added that he felt this had to be pointed out to ensure it would not happen again.

The magistrate also noted that, as was pointed out by all the police officers who testified during the searches, there were no signs of prostitution. So, the question was: Why were the women charged with running the establishments for prostitution purposes?

This, he said, had been a "fishing expedition" by the police. He noted that evidence showed some of the women were doing nothing remotely illegal, yet the police's line of action appeared to be to charge them all, then let the court decide. This was deplorable, Magistrate Mizzi said.

He added that, if this was a case where the prosecuting officers were following the instructions of their superiors (in arraigning all the women) then those superiors should have signed the charge sheet and appeared in court to prosecute.

The magistrate moved on to deal with the part of the charge where the women were accused of their involvement in the management of the establishments for immoral purposes.

Evidence showed that all the women are now EU nationals who came to Malta, out of their own free will, to work. The women had regular contracts, paid their taxes and most were self-employed and were paid by the establishments.

Therefore, evidence did not result that the women were in any way involved in the running of the clubs.

Moving on to the matter of "immoral acts", Magistrate Mizzi heard how many of the women had been arrested when they were wearing g-strings.

Nowadays, he noted, we see women in g-stings on beaches and, although some may not like this, it was a fact that the younger generation was more daring.

The magistrate added that, to him, it was more worrying that g-stings were worn on beaches, in the presence of children. The nightclubs involved applied a door policy through which only people aged 21 and over were allowed in. Although this was done for financial reasons, it guaranteed that minors were prohibited entry.

The magistrate pointed out that evidence also showed that, before the November searches, the Malta Tourism Authority and a police official had carried out several inspections at the nightclubs and no complaints were lodged.

He concluded by saying that the moral standards of society have evolved and we are free to buy, or not, according to our standards.

Police Superintendent Peter Paul Zammit and Inspectors Paul Vassallo, Louise Calleja and Therese Azzopardi prosecuted.

Lawyers Joseph Giglio, Shazoo Ghaznavi, Michael Sciriha, Franco Galea, Edward Gatt, Joseph Arrigo, Jean Karl Farrugia and Robert Abela appeared for the women.