AG tears into judgment in appeal over lap dancers

The Attorney General has appealed a judgment in which 31 lap dancers were cleared of involvement in the running of nightclubs for immoral purposes, claiming that it contributed to the deterioration of moral standards.

"The whole judgment, in fact, resonates with (such) manifest contradictions and statements which contribute to undermining rather than upholding public morality," the AG said in his application.

The case goes back to the night between November 17 and 18 last year, when several police officers were instructed to carry out searches in various nightclubs.

The aim was to investigate whether there was any form of prostitution or other immoral acts going on in these establishments. The police arrested several women who danced at the clubs.

The women were charged with exposing themselves in public and 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".

Last month, the Magistrates' Court cleared the 31 women of all charges in a judgment that was particularly critical of the prosecution.

Earlier this month, the AG filed an application for appeal in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

"The judgment of the first court is rich in imprecision, misconceptions, and denigration of the constituted police authorities and superficiality in the evaluation of the evidence but very poor in the exposition of the law on the matters at issue and in upholding public morality," the application read.

The AG noted that the Magistrates' Court had excluded the part of the charge about prostitution on the grounds that police witnesses had testified there was no evidence of prostitution.

Rather than relying so unquestioningly on what was stated by these witnesses, the court should have come to its own conclusions on the basis of prostitution according to the law, the AG argued.

A prostitute was a woman who offered her body for lewd acts and against payment and such acts did not necessarily have to be sexual intercourse, the AG said.

Lap dancing constituted a lewd act because it was a "simulation of sexual activity and the sexual act".

The AG argued that the places in question were being used as a brothel. They were only licensed as "wine and spirits" establishments and, therefore, were only licensed to sell wine and spirits and not provide entertainment.

Referring to comments by the Magistrates' Court in the judgment - one being when the police were accused of going on a "fishing expedition" - the AG said: "Such expressions generate more heat than light.

"The judgment would have been more enlightening if it made an effort, at least, at identifying the legal notion of "brothel" and or "prostitution".

In fact, the establishments were being used as brothels and for prostitution purposes, he argued.

The AG also noted that, by law, anyone over 16 was allowed to enter the establishments and, therefore, the magistrate had incorrectly described the clubs as "adult places of entertainment". The women were wearing g-strings which the Magistrates' Court described as "work attire".

The only circumstance that might justify the use of this phrase, the AG said, could only arise should the sex industry ever be regulated and licensed here.

While highlighting the difference between the image of a naked woman and "the real thing", the AG added that underwear was meant to be "worn next to the skin and under the outer garments, and that there it should so remain and not be publicly flaunted".

The AG went on to add that the Magistrates' Court's judgment was contradictory.

"The first court appears to regret what it perceives as the deterioration in moral standards and then chastises police action seeking to uphold such standards," the AG said.

He called on the Court of Criminal Appeal to revoke the Magistrates' Court's judgment in the case of 29 of the women by finding them guilty but confirm the innocence of three of the women.

Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, from the AG's office, signed the application.