A Paceville gentleman’s club owner plans to sue the police for income losses caused by a series of unannounced inspections last week.
Ronnie Axisa believes he was unfairly targeted when the police inspected his club Stiletto three times in four days, each time asking for the same paperwork.
“I cannot run a business this way, with police interrupting business for 45 minutes at a time. I’ve been open for over four years and always worked in line with the law,” he said.
According to Mr Axisa, the police generally inspect gentlemen’s clubs once a week. Aside from ensuring dancers are registered with the Employment and Training Corporation, they also check for any irregularities and ensure the club manager is licensed to act in the owner’s stead.
But Stiletto saw business brusquely interrupted three times two weeks ago, with a visit on a Monday being followed by a second on Tuesday and third on Thursday.
“Each time, they asked for the exact same documents. My employees are all registered and I’ve never had any irregularities. So by the third visit, I was absolutely furious,” Mr Axisa said.
During the first visit, club management was unable to locate a document proving the manager was licensed to run the club. Mr Axisa said the police were given the document the following day.
He suspects he is being reported by someone with a vested interest, after a Romanian girl approached him last Sunday asking if dancers were allowed to engage in sexual relations with clients.
“I was categorical and told her ‘definitely not’.”
According to Mr Axisa, the girl repeated the request two days later. “When she asked me a second time, I had her evicted from the club. I’m running a gentleman’s club not a brothel. But the timing struck me as odd, given the police raids.”
He said he had now taken legal advice and was determined to take the case to court.
“Police have to do their job, but if a place is fully licensed and has no history of illegality, how can they justify three consecutive inspections? This has to stop,” he said.
Questions to the police remained unanswered by the time of going to print.